


Valiant Soul

by TheDarkFlygon



Series: Brave Soul [1]
Category: Inazuma Eleven
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Child Abandonment, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Headcanon, Light Angst, Male Friendship, Missing Scene, No Dialogue, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27742186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkFlygon/pseuds/TheDarkFlygon
Summary: From a rainy day of October in Fukuoka to a grand celebration, the journey of a boy who isn't as ordinary as he'd like to believe.
Relationships: Endou Mamoru & Tachimukai Yuuki, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Otonashi Haruna & Tachimukai Yuuki, Raimon Eleven & Tachimukai Yuuki, Tachimukai Yuuki & Tsunami Jousuke
Series: Brave Soul [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2076102
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	1. Golden Youth

**Author's Note:**

> It's November 2020 and I'm posting a goddamn Tachimukai character study that isn't even finished (far from it lmao) but has been in the works for so long that I just feel compelled to finally making some of it public. By that, I mean the edgy beginning to some #deep fic that, again, shouldn't be a thing, but is, because Fly is gonna be Fly.  
> Anyway, yeah, Brave Soul has been here for... a while. It's a compilation of sorts of all the speculation I've made around one secondary-if-not-background character over the years and the little edits I'd have made in canon so he'd get to shine just a bit more.  
> This story is mostly canon-compliant (aside from some edits), so strap in for Uncle Fly's wild ride. I'll be adding tags as I go along. This is only the first entry in a four-parter series, however, so get ready for bigger canon divergence elements and headcanons as we go along. ValSou has very little of those as far as I've planned, so if you just want one concise-ish character study that follows the series, ValSou is perfect for that, I'd say.  
> I'm still actively working on this story at the moment, so updates wil be infrequent, especially since I'm still in college and have a ton of already ongoing WIP stories/series to take care of; but I'll try my best. Inazuma is dear to me and so are its characters.

It’s an ordinary day of early autumn in an ordinary clinic in an ordinary district of Fukuoka. It’s pouring outside, early in the morning, and a couple of new parents, who aren’t from the city and only live here for a quick job, glance at the basket with half an eye, unsure of what to make of who’s inside. It’s merely a question of character and age: too young for a child, too busy to give up on their current life, too happy to let go of their current speed of pleasure and leisure between work hours. Unlike many much more unfortunate people, they’ve got the funds to handle such a thing, they decide on a much sneakier plan than the ordinary.

You know, the kid should’ve been grateful not to be outright abandoned.

The parents believe in the power of names. Would it have been a desired little girl, she may have been named Ruri so she’d be protected from the demons and misery as they cherished her. Sadly for the mother, all of the pain and effort gave her exactly what she _didn’t_ want, so the new parents give their curse a gender-neutral name: _Yuuki_ , with a long u sound. They insist on saying it’s important, very important, not to forget it. Much later, someone else will repeat the same thing: _it’s very important, please don’t forget it_.

They opt for a kanji spelling to justify their half-baked choice and cement themselves as “caring parents who totally aren’t going to abandon that kid as soon as possible”. The kanji means “brave” and it’s their way to silently tell him to suck it and face the world all on his own, to always have what it takes to see the sun rise the next day and succeed when nothing in his cards has ever told him so.

It fits, his much older self guesses as he tries to resist the urge to throw his parents’ frame in the dump.

His last name is fairly long. Actually, to add onto his bizarre heritage, it’s too long for his fellow pre-schoolers and they end up calling him by his given one instead (he’d later realize that’s just a normal thing for children that young). He doesn’t quite learn how to spell it properly with kanjis until mid-elementary school, and even then, he more often than not gets it wrong. It’s something about protecting something or staying up, yet another silent message from his parents: survive on your own, you’ll eventually be fine, son. Like his first name, it ends up making sense in the long run, but it’ll take him thirteen years to understand how.

There’s no real household to that name, which doesn’t help, but he doesn’t realize it just yet. All there is for a house named after the overly long surname is some flat with a perpetually full mailbox and a ring bell. Not that a lot of people need to come there and ring the door after he’s entered junior high: that’s just a detail, like he’s always been. By himself, he _is_ a detail, a footnote, after all.

Yuuki has no recollection of the faces of his past. His parents are vague silhouettes, shadows with half a face. He has his mother’s eyes and his father’s hair colour, that’s all he got from poor memories and the one picture he keeps eyeing in the corridor of the flat, unsure what to make of it. It’s not like he’s got a lot of relatives to remind him of any parental semblance: he’s simply never even seen these fables uncles and aunts and only (barely) recognizes his grandparents because they drop some money on him every year. He supposes some families are just like that and that’s how things are. Nobody’s told him anything to go against that yet.

He can’t wrap his little head around the weird looks adults at school give him when he explains that he mostly sees nannies when he isn’t attending class. He doesn’t understand their confusion, or why they ask him if he’s doing fine and if he doesn’t miss his parents, or even why they suddenly and shortly after all that start insisting on how he can rely on them in case there’s nobody home after school or on the weekends. Truth be told, he doesn’t quite know why he’d miss people he’s barely seen but he’s sure he’s loved in some way. He’s still alive, that has to count for something, right?

School is great, he thinks. It feels like a place where he belongs: he gets called by his name, they check if he’s here, people talk to him. He doesn’t have a lot of friends, just a couple he really likes to play with, friends who don’t ask him where his parents are because they’re in similar cases. It’s nice to be understood, so they all appreciate each other’s company, even if he’s the only one of their small circle to genuinely like school.

Not every subject interesses him, that’s a given. He doesn’t really like sciences, gets easily bored by maths, doesn’t quite understand the appeal of some sports too (there’s just _something_ about gymnastics that just doesn’t feel right…). He really likes literature, tends to copy the comparisons he likes in a notebook he keeps around so he can remember them later, studies his kanjis pretty religiously. He takes a particular liking to home economics classes, keeps an eye out for new recipes to make once he gets home if the nanny doesn’t come around. His friends don’t quite get him there, but that’s fine. Chihiro likes maths and he likes cooking. There’s nothing wrong with that, he’s been told.

He’s a shy boy on the playground. He gets intimidated easily around both adults and other children and he’s unsure of how he’s supposed to start a conversation or continue one. The nannies didn’t exactly teach him how to entertain a discussion with someone else, only to be polite and respectful. He says hello and goodbye but gets speechless when he has to come up to a classmate. Introducing himself is strangely difficult to do, he’s afraid of annoying people like he seems to annoy nannies sometimes. In the end, they have to start socializing with him, and that’s how he makes a couple friends.

Yet, despite his shyness and timidity, he’s the kind to babble on and on about what he likes. It’s less about himself and more about what’s currently going on in his mind: activities in class, the latest shows he gets to watch on TV before heading to school, life at home and which nanny is on duty this day, the book he’s started reading recently, previous reads he’s just remembered about. It seems to annoy his comrades less than the adults so he tends to only talk to kids his age instead. It makes speaking to people better and more comfortable.

As a consequence, he’s still pretty naïve when he enters junior high. The nannies stop coming weekly and he discovers the dorms of his new school, Yokato. It’s fairly small, which reassures him as the unknown scares him more than he’d like to admit, “human-sized” as Mom said on the phone. There’s nothing notorious about it apart from the fact it’s apparently the school where the famous Endou Daisuke studied for three years. Who is that man? He doesn’t know.

In fact, he doesn’t know much about soccer, the sport that made this man such a legend on the schoolgrounds, until he joins the club on a whim when the year starts. He’s played it a couple times in elementary school and liked it enough to take an interest in it, but it’s never quite been a hobby of his until that point. The team looks pretty cool and they’re nice to him, so he joins it and he gets attributed the role of a midfielder. It feels like falling in Alice’s rabbit hole from then on.

Joining Yokato’s soccer club is an awkward experience, at first. He’s the only first-year in a team filled with second-year students, so he tends to apologize for the smallest thing and pay particular attention to his suffixes. He tries to change his pronouns around them but _ore_ always stays because he doesn’t see himself use something else (he doesn’t know where he picked it from, but he’s always used it and it’s hard to change). They’re all fine with it, or so it seems, so he supposes he should be fine with it too.

Even if they’re younger than the adults who asked about his parents, they’re still like these people, sometimes. The captain, Toda, in especially like that: he makes a funny face when Yuuki tells him about the weekends he spends alone, when he cleans after himself and cooks for himself, as why he finds it so fun to be around so many people similar to him all of a sudden. Is he this disturbing? Why does it seem so weird to everyone else?


	2. (Un)ordinary Life at Yokato Junior High

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe midfielder isn't the job for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting this now because this part is starting to smell like old WIP and I want it out of the door.  
> At least this one is less 100% speculation hahahaha.

Soccer is a lot of fun, Yuuki quickly discovers. A couple of his teammates live in the dorms too, so he bonds with them even more than with the others. Playing with other people makes it a lot better than so many of the individual sports he’s played before and talking with them is like making the friends he didn’t dare talking to in elementary or still don’t dare coming up to in his class. Too bad his elementary friends have chosen other schools to join, but it’s fine. Everybody has their own path, he’s been told.

The name Endou Daisuke finally starts making sense now that he’s around the team. Turns out his comrades are all Raimon Eleven fans, so he watches the matches with his teammates whenever they can, at school in their lockers or at someone’s place. He usually has to walk there whenever that’s the case, but it’s all good. It’s always worth it, both for the ambiance of their afternoons and for the matches themselves. Raimon’s players are crazy good, all of them, and there’s always sparkles in his eyes whenever he watches them on the pitch; yet they always fixate on one key player: Endou Daisuke’s grandson himself, Endou Mamoru.

There’s something about a captain able to always motivate his team that captivates him. As the timid youngest of his, he can’t help but want to be this too, to have what it takes to lead a group and protect everyone’s goals. Keeping the post seems a lot more like him than running after the ball is too: he’s not the best at running or kicking in a ball, preferring to throw it back in when it exits the pitch. It’s not like he doesn’t know how to tackle someone, but he’d rather not do it. He’s not aggressive enough to attack either, he finds out soon enough.

One day, he finally confesses his current troubles to his captain. Much to his surprise considering how tension has built up in his stomach, “I feel like I’d rather be a goalkeeper” manages to make it out of his throat. “It’s fine if I can’t, though,” he then adds so he doesn’t get kicked out or looked at like a poor thing that has to be discarded. (Why would they _discard_ him? What a weird thing to think). Toda nods, amused, then tells him it’s fine and that they all saw it coming anyway. Before he knows it, or can truly realize it, Yuuki is the new titular keeper and, while he’s not sure of what it means to have slipped this easily into his dream position on the field, he’s still immensely grateful for it. Time to show them he can do it, that they won’t regret it, that he is indeed paying them back for the favour.

The problem is that he doesn’t quite know where to start. Stopping a shot is slightly harder than it looks on TV, sure, but that’s not the worst to get used to. Simply put, he doesn’t know where to head next. What should he be working on, reflexes and strength in the arms and legs aside? Should he be heading for a special technique at last, since he wasn’t able to master any as a midfielder despite the team using _Triple-Legged Race_ , _Rainbow Loop_ and _Block Circus_? But then, what kind of technique? Something to catch the ball or something to punch it out of the way? Endou knows both, after all, so it’s just a question of where to start.

It then comes to his mind, one day where he’s rewatching a match they recorded on a previous day. There is one technique that keeps coming to his mind when he thinks of what he wants to be, of an objective he wants to reach one day. It seems notoriously arduous and most likely impossible, but if he tries, he can most likely make it a reality; and that’s what matters, because as it stands, he wants to do one thing and only one.

He wants to learn _God Hand_.

His teammates are surprised when they realize what he’s trying to do. Well, not surprised by his choice per say, but by his decision. Trying to reproduce _Fire Tornado_ or _Dragon Crash_ for fun has happened countless times during training sessions and even as warmups before matches, but seriously wanting to learn one of Raimon’s techniques is a first for the team. Still, and despite initial fears for their reactions, they’re all pretty much supportive of his idea, no matter how silly it may have sounded to them at first.

That’s when he starts watching this one clip of _God Hand_ over and over again. He trains after school and once his homework is all done every day, analyses tiny details on the times where there’s nobody to throw a ball at him, gets closer to it each time even if it always ends up not quite being _God Hand_. His hands bleed sometimes, abused by the grinding, but he washes them, sometimes tries putting on bandages by himself, and continues his efforts. Nothing will stop him from learning _God Hand_ , he’s decided.

His teachers sometimes ask him about the badly wrapped bandages on his hands, with worried words and eyes. It’s nothing, he says, because it isn’t something bigger than a boy trying to learn something new. They don’t seem to really believe him on that, like they’ve never seemed to think that his situation wasn’t as big as they made it out to be, leaving him to guess this has to be a problem on their part and not his.

His teammates almost ask him to stop whenever the bandages start getting drenched in red again. He listens to their concern, sure, but since it’s still all good on his end, he eventually brushes it off and ask them to shoot one more time, to give him one last try at this. They accept, not without thinking about it twice, and the session resumes. That is, until he pulls it off at once and gets shot through his entire body by an unknown energy, pulsing in rhythm with the Earth and making his eyes open to a new dimension.

The stolen breaths of his teammates tell him he’s done it at last, and he feels the proudest about himself than he’s ever felt before this day.

The Football Frontier ends with Raimon winning against Zeus and aliens destroying schools left and right in the mainland. They get scared for their school quickly, before the tranquillity of knowing Raimon is out there fighting them reassures them enough for school to resume, even if the new security protocols put into place don’t exactly scream like serenity to anyone around. Life is life, though, so they focus back on what’s good about it and enjoy the summer as much as possible.

Yokato never sees a visit from the weird aliens, sticking around the mainland for just long enough. They reach Hokkaido and get defeated on Hakuren’s grounds, change teams, reach Osaka and get matched up by Raimon again. The soccer team watches with a careful but playful eye, here for the thrill and to know if things are getting better at the same time. They yearn for safety, and the feeling doesn’t disappear, even when Raimon’s team reaches their territories.

It’s a surprise when the Inazuma Caravan parks in front of Yokato’s building. From his chair in the first row next to the window, Yuuki notices their unexpected arrival from the corner of his eye in a maths class and tries not to show the sudden wave of excitement coursing through his limbs. It’s hard to regain what little focus he had on the lesson before, but he still manages to pull himself back into the algebraic seas.

The headmaster invites the Raimon Eleven to meet the school’s soccer club and his legs suddenly cease functioning. He’s always been on the shyer side, sure, but seeing the team he’s admired so much in person straight-up paralyses him on the spot. He hides behind Michihata when he sees them come up to his comrades, astonished and admirative of how serene Toda looks when he shakes hands with Endou. He’s never even hoped of seeing them in person, let alone being able to talk to such legendary people, is this even real?

(It’s real. Pinching his arm just hurts).

Toda calls him out, forcing him to come out of hiding. His limbs are stiff and he can barely contain the internal screaming raging inside his head: this is real, all too real, and he doesn’t know how to cope with it. It’s a weird mix between fear and excitement and he almost fails to introduce himself, arms still stiff against his torso, hands clammy from the anxiety of meeting his idol. His skin feels blessed in a weird way, even if it’s calloused skin against calloused skin, even if Endou’s worked much harder than he ever has.

They talk with Raimon’s team. Even better, they practice together, as equals, despite their differences in level. They eat dinner on the same table, the curry tastes good, even if Domon and Kabeyama seem startled by his reaction to the dish (it’s just the right amount of spicy, why is it so weird to them? Ah, maybe the two guys running around with flames in their mouths…). It feels like a dream come true, hopes having materialized before his eyes and it’s all going extraordinarily well too. He wishes this moment could last forever, but all good things come to an end eventually, and he’s still happy to have been able to talk to Endou about a new technique. _Seigi no Tekken_ is fascinating, cryptic, powerful and enticing.

(He doesn’t notice Fubuki going quiet next to them, deeply musing about a swirl.)

Raimon and Yokato face against each other the day after. It’s a friendly match, with no stake to it, a breath of fresh air for Raimon and a change of pace for the small team of Yokato. He sees with his own two eyes Endou use _Majin the Hand_ stopping _Rainbow Loop_ right in its tracks, a new surge of energy bolting down his body, leaving him almost in a daze but holding on. Like the greedy caterpillar who always wanted to eat, he wants to learn this new technique, now that _God Hand_ is there for him. It’s a new objective to reach, a new step to get closer to his role model.

The team understands immediately, not surprised in the slightest. He can’t quite get the technique right during the second half, though, so they lose four to zero against a much stronger team. The lack of resentment or disappointment on his teammates’ faces tell him it’s fine that they’ve lost, they seem okay with him having stopped nothing while trying to make _Majin the Hand_ his reality. It’s all good, it feels even more like a dream, and in the end he gets to train with Endou and discuss _Seigi no Tekken_ further.

But then it turns into a nightmare and he watches helplessly as his team gets swept by Genesis from his goalpost. He tries to keep his optimism – surely Raimon will win against them! – only to witness his heroes getting just as wrecked. The field turns into a war site, voices screaming and throats tearing

Fubuki’s mind snaps, Kazemaru leaves, Kurimatsu vanishes with a letter he barely hears about, and the entire team gets engulfed in a despair not as foreign to him as he’d have liked.

It’s raining that day, the sky grey and mourning, and the team is stuck in Fukuoka for some reason. He doesn’t know why, he just feels like it’s weird: from the window of his classroom, he watches a team behave strangely. Wrong vibes resonate to his ears, vibes he can’t make out, vibes that distract him from class.

The weekend rolls around. His team goes home, he doesn’t: he’s staying at the dorm, exceptionally, to profit even further of Raimon being there, even if there’ll be nobody he knows there during that time. He ignores the weird feeling he’s getting: it has to be something he doesn’t understand and, truth be told, all he wants is to train even further with Endou, to exchange tips and tricks with him, to learn from him and, perhaps, make a friend in him. That last point still remains a faraway dream, an ideal to reach. It possibly won’t happen.

Doesn’t mean he won’t try to at least bring everyone in Raimon back to a state where he’d like them to be.

He continues training for _Majin the Hand_ using the technique Endou has shown him. Ties a tire on a thick tree branch and swings it in his direction, trying to desperately remember the feeling Endou has invoked during the match against his team, reproducing the moves as best as he can, only to be sent flying over and over again, getting closer to each time, but never quite there yet. In fact, he doesn’t feel even a shred of the energy from before: he needs to work on it more. He’ll do it and show it to Endou, he swears.

Raimon’s players stare at their captain sitting against the fence on the room. He gives them a glance, wonders what’s wrong, and decides it’s not his business. Instead, he opts to ask them where Endou is (he knows, but he’d rather smile to them and pretend that he doesn’t). He doesn’t receive a real answer, merely the managers staring at each other in awkward manners, before running off to his training spot. Endou will come back when he’ll come back, he figures, and there’s no point in forcing things out, is there?

Eventually, Kino walks up to him, asking with a serious (if not a bit _too_ serious) face if he doesn’t want to train for _Majin the Hand_ with Raimon’s team. He doesn’t spend even a second thinking about it: of course he does! Shoots will be better than a swinging tire anyway and, well, how can he refuse such an opportunity? It’d be dumb not to! He nods and follows her to the stadium used by his club for their practice, a familiar territory, albeit he faces Ichinose, Kidou and a ball from his goalpost.

He feels somewhat intimidated at first, but as soon as the first _Twin Boost_ goes through the air in his direction, he’s forgotten everything about being afraid before. Mind empty of external thoughts, he focuses on the moves he makes with his entire body, making sure to reach for his heart’s strength each time, usually taken to the back of the nets with the ball and always getting back up afterwards. He won’t give up. He’s so near completion, so near reaching his goals, that he cannot back down. He’d never back down anyway, wouldn’t he? As _if_ he could give up!

He eventually pulls it off, stealing the breath away from Raimon players again. Grinning to his ears, he flips around to face the roof, heart jumping inside his chest in excitement, as he waves his arms around, calling for his inspiration. From where he is, he can’t see much of the latter, not even decipher what’s on his face, but the team seems happy for him and Kino shows relief next to Endou, so it has to be all fine and well. He thanks everyone for their services and patience and leaves them alone, pride pulsing through his arms and spine.

It’s Monday when Raimon has to leave the school to continue fighting the aliens. His team suggests to him to ask and join them, believing he’d be better off with Raimon and help save Japan than stay here. He’s got what it takes, they say, and the idea doesn’t displease him despite the questions he starts having. Wouldn’t that be abandoning his team? What if Raimon refuses? After all, why would they accept, when their coach seems so strict? He’s just a rookie goalkeeper who can’t be compared to Endou, it’d be weird for them to accept him and—

He asks anyway, albeit not without some anxiety meddling in his stomach.

To his surprise, he immediately gets accepted in the team, even by their stern-looking coach. He’s too relieved, too excited, not to let his hype get the best of him and give him the confidence boost he will soon discover he never deserved – but for now, he’s a member of the best team in Japan and that’s more than enough to him. He really doesn’t need anything more right now than the feeling of deserving to be there, ignoring all possible reserves that he should more than likely be putting in place right now.


	3. The Weakest Link

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Playing as a midfielder _really_ doesn't fit him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, what I love about this fic is that I can feel free not to focus on the parts that personally don't interest me. You'll see this in this chapter in particular, so get ready for some wonky pacing because this is my stupid character study and I do whatever I want in it.  
> Anyway, this was the part that was a little less interesting to write. As much as I love the match against Oumihara, I don't care as much about the matches against Epsilon Kai and Diamond Dust, so these were a little shalved, you could say.  
> also i don't know what i'm doing, as always

The happiness and warmth of acceptance quickly turn into the humid heat of Okinawa, where Raimon is headed in hopes to find their lost ace striker. He’s noticed Gouenji wasn’t there, of course, but like he noticed Endou was actually on the roof, Yuuki preferred not to ask about anything and just play along. See no evil, hear no evil. _Don’t annoy your upperclassmen_ , as Mom would say.

Nobody asked about his parents’ authorization, in such a weird way that the question remains in the back of his mind even as they train on the sandy shores of Okinawa, even as Megane almost drowns and gets saved at the last minute by a funny-looking boy around their age with bright pink hair and goggles on his face. _Tsunami_ , the boy’s surname is. He’s tagging along for a bit and he sure shows in front of them that he can actually shoot in a ball better than Yuuki ever could. It’d hurt if he wasn’t so used to it.

They meet up with the forward they suspected to be Gouenji – turns out he’s another of these aliens and, remembering what happened back at Yokato, he unconsciously steps back. The redhead yells at Endou about his team – Prominence – and defies their team, but before he knows it, the aliens are gone and everyone is left to realize the “Flame Striker” wasn’t Gouenji, making their visit to Okinawa sound a little useless.

Soon after, however, Tsunami reappears and tells them he’s joined his school’s soccer team, which has everyone’s jaws left hanging. The coach refuses to let them play against Oumihara at first, but Tsunami only has to mention his team almost made it into this year’s Football Frontier for her to accept. This took far less time than he thought it would, but considering she accepted him into the team despite the circumstances, then he cannot say it’s this bizarre. They need all the power and substitutes they can get, don’t they?

For the first time in a while, he reprises his role as a midfielder, given to him by Kidou’s strategy for the practice match. From far away, he can see how happy and harmonious the team looks, despite how… weird they are. It’s not a bad thing, he supposes: they’re enjoying life to the fullest in times where Raimon simply can’t. At least, they look like fun opponents to go against.

Playing as a midfielder again intimidates him a little. It’s been literal months since he was last seen outside the goal and he’s not sure if he can live up to the expectations that come with being a midfielder playing for _the_ Raimon Eleven. The people he shares the field with are leagues above him when it comes to fulfilling this role, so he better get his game on…

…is what he wishes he could say, but as it turns out, even his best is the worst of the team. He’s never learnt any technique that’d be useful for this job and, as it turns out, he has this irremediable want to use his hands whenever the ball gets near him. His brain works in a loop that keeps telling him he can’t let anything seep through, even if it isn’t his role, even if he isn’t the last line before the opponents score (thank goodness for Endou’s presence) – it doesn’t unplug. It stays on and repeats, repeats, repeats.

He can’t follow through with anything. Everyone runs too fast, too much for him to keep up without losing his breath. Ichinose’s pass confuses him because he wants to catch it with his hands, only to remember he can’t do that, and to take it right in the face and fall down like a knocked-over toy. He tries to defend to find some bearing again, but even that he can’t do that without Touko fearing the worst and allowing them to be feigned.

The match ends on a 1-0 for Raimon thanks to _Butterfly Dream_. That’s a closer call than it ever needed to be.

When Domon asks him the day after that why he isn’t with Endou training for _Seigi no Tekken_ , he replies he doesn’t mind training as a midfielder for the day. He’ll be more needed that way, after all. It feels like betraying his choices, but he’s more concerned with fitting into the team, at the moment.

He’s the rookie so he needs to adapt to the team, not the other way around.

Epsilon attacks again, but their faces are different than the ones on TV. Their eyes have turned red and their words are cold and harsh: their captain is here for Endou’s skin and he feels all of the dread in the world behind the appearance of believing in Raimon. Of course, he believes in everyone on the team because, if there’s someone in this country that can save people from dying in destroyed building, then it’s Raimon. It’s them.

They’ll prevent the destruction of Oumihara Junior High and protect the team. Tsunami joins them for the match as to give them more firepower ( _good_ , he thinks, because he’s clearly no powerhouse – Tsunami will be a much more useful recruit).

The match turns sour almost immediately.

They’re getting dominated by Epsilon Kai’s brute force to the point they can barely attack and, when they do, Desarm just looks down on them with a condescending smirk. Fubuki runs to the goal, tries attacking, gets verbally eviscerated and has to be removed from the field. Desarm becomes a forward, breaks through _Seigi no Tekken_ like it’s nothing, sending Endou down a spiral. This is a catastrophe, one big nasty catastrophe.

There’s something he does understand in the middle of the sandstorm, however, and it’s that _Seigi no Tekken_ is like a cub: it’ll evolve, get stronger, and stop more and more attacks coming their way. It’s weak now, but it’ll get stronger – but when will that be? Endou doesn’t seem to wonder about that, considering he just gives him a tap on the shoulder and smiles.

Optimism feels foreign.

The second half of the match goes as badly as the first one, so everyone eats the dirt and barely gets back up. Despite that, like he did against Zeus and like he’s always done, Endou stays up and tries to stop Desarm’s onslaught. That’s when they all finally hear the real Seigi no Tekken roar in the field, engaging Desarm and sending waves of hopes in the team’s ranks.

And then the miracle keeps on giving. Gouenji suddenly comes back, puts back on a Raimon outfit, makes everyone get up. He’s never seen Gouenji in real life, obviously, so his aura is a bit overwhelming from how powerful it is; it’s a revival for them. He lacks the words to define this… energy emanating from their striker, but he knows it’s powerful and positive.

Raimon wins against Epsilon 2 to 1. The miracle continues: Desarm admits his defeat, his team recovers their spirit, and their captains are about to shake hands… but then incomes yet another team and the cycle the others seem to have experienced continues: another ball crashes from the sky, another team appears, the defeated one disappears.

They get a downtime where everyone gets to know Gouenji. His encounter with him is fairly to-the-point: it can be summarized in an exchange of Fire Tornado and God Hand and, not the first time this month, he gets sent flying in the goalpost. He doesn’t mind: the power of this shoot was more than enough to make up for the bruise he’s going to get from the flight.

The atmosphere is still a little stressful despite the cheerfulness brought on by Tsunami’s arrival and Gouenji’s return to the team. They’re more powerful than ever now, but even then, the threat of Diamond Dust is looming over their heads, so they get back to training and leave Okinawa.

If going to Okinawa was his first outing from Fukuoka, he’s now where the team he’s currently on has started: Inazuma. They don’t have time to go sight-seeing, however, as they’re quickly greeted back by Diamond Dust who, like the other Aliea teams, challenge them to a soccer match.

In a worrisome pattern, they also easily blow through the teams, injuring Rika in the process. The pattern continues in their favour, however, when Aphrodi joins them; but the team is doubtful, so only Tsunami accepts, at first, to land him the ball. Endou leaves the goal to try and shoot with Domon and Ichinose, ends up stopping a potential goal with his head.

Raimon ties the score. Diamond Dust disappears in a cloud of white fog. He’s got more questions than answers.

After the match, the tense aura everyone emits doesn’t end. They know they could’ve lost and that they were darn near that defeat. They clearly have much, more improvement in front of them. Everyone must be thinking that, considering he can’t sense anything else aside from maybe Aphrodi, who’s new to the team, newer than he is, who may not know what it feels like to see the cycle in action (he thinks that, as he’s himself a rookie, a cub who doesn’t know much).

When they’re about to go back to the Caravan, however, the coach turns back to them, her eyes as cold as they were the first time he saw her, as cold as they seem to always be, and land directly on Endou who was leading the team. It’s less of a conscious thing than everyone doing it because it makes sense and it’s handy.

_You are removed from your position as goalkeeper_ shakes through the entire team.

What follows is a storm in a cup of water. Nobody really understands, so a part of the team protests. Touko’s words – _Endou’s the only goalkeeper for the team_ – sound true yet hurt. Kidou chimes in, calms everyone down by explaining the unspoken thought process. Endou decides to become a libero for the sake of the team, for the sake of victory for the greater good. He probably doesn’t like it very much. That’s a feeling they can both get behind, he supposes.

Kogure points out they need a new goalkeeper, now. Endou says it with the upmost confidence – _we have Tachimukai_ , as if _he_ was the obvious pick. Then comes back the backfire, reminding him that to the eyes of the team he’s just a rookie goalie (which he is, no use in trying to deny it and bury his head in the sand). Endou has to explain his reasoning so everyone else will accept the decision, a story about him having potential, _he’ll be amazing, I know it_. The coach and Kidou add onto it. Everyone turns positive as if no doubts had ever taken place and he’s filled with an energy he hasn’t felt in a way, a surge of motivation that makes him say “I’ll do it!” without a shadow of a doubt.

He gives his round of thanks, ask them to care of him, replies seriously to Rika when she expected a joke answer. Grand debut of the new goalkeeper.


	4. Ripples in the Endless Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _shutatata-tan, dobababa-bam_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have typed "shutatata-tan, dobababa-bam" about a dozen too many times in for this chapter's sole purpose of focusing on like 2 episodes, new record! The last parts of S2 (Chaos, Genesis and DE) will be more focused than the rest simply because I've got a lot more to say about those. The terrible, rapid-fire pace will come back tenfold for S3 tho, that's for sure.  
> Also the last time I had to take down so many dialogue notes for any fic since my Trauma Center rewrites from early 2020, and that was because I 100% relied on canon dialogue for those.

The night is light-hearted, for the most part. They’re going to Endou’s place to eat some barbecue so, to be useful, he helps with it. He’s used to cooking back at home, so he thinks he’s pretty qualified for the job. At least, nobody seems to protest the way he handles cooking meat. Someone – Kino, if he isn’t wrong – even asks where he learnt to do this, to which he can only reply “oh, I just learnt by practicing it at home”. It seems like a normal answer.

He’s got some troubles participating in the conversations that are taking place, however. Those on soccer, school and even happenings in Japan he can usually add at least a little something to, but the topic of family rises its head, and he realizes he’s got nothing to say about that. He has one, sure, but he hasn’t seen them in such a long time that he can’t remember much to tell anyone else about…

The night, for him, ends with a conversation he didn’t expect to have. Otonashi, of all people, asked him if he didn’t want to talk in private. He couldn’t find it in himself to say no despite not knowing why she was even asking him such a thing, so they found themselves in some corner of the garden, sitting on the dry grass, the night-time wind blowing through their hair.

He doesn’t know a single thing about Otonashi aside from the fact she’s one of the team’s managers. In fact, he doesn’t know much about a lot of people on the team, aside from Endou who’s admired for too long not to know a least a little. He’s been discovering everyone else since joining, but it’s a slow process; and the fact Otonashi and he have never spoken together before is puzzling his mind even further.

Lucky for him, she starts off explaining herself: she’s noticed how… _distant_ he seemed, sometimes, whenever the same topic was brought up. He didn’t know someone could notice things so quickly considering it’s barely been a month since he’s joined the team – but he supposes they’ve had numerous occasions to both witness these group chats where he strangely goes silent.

He doesn’t tell her, that day, why the topic of family makes him blank out. Instead, he listens to her mention how the conversation feels phony to her because she doesn’t remember the faces of her biological parents. He’d have never guessed she’d look so sad when speaking about anything, from how cheerful he’s seen her be on the side-lines; but he supposes he may be that way too, considering she asked. He tries his best at making her feel better (it’s probably not good, but she says she appreciates the effort, and then they just talk about something else before joining back the rest of the group).

That night, even with the exhaustion of the day in full swing and the recent, _major_ news, he can’t stop thinking about a little conversation. He shakes his head and tries to focus on what actually excites him so much it prevents him from falling asleep.

The next morning is a flurry of novelty and emotions. The sun is shining bright above their heads as they train for their upcoming match against The Genesis, working on the new team dynamic. Wearing the Raimon goalkeeper outfit for the first time fills him with a pride like he’s never felt any before, let alone knowing it’s _his_ and not Endou’s he’s just borrowing (whom, to be honest, looks as charismatic as everin his brand new libero look).

The change feels like a big one already, yet when Endou actually tells him he wants _him_ to learn a technique from _the_ legendary Endou Daisuke’s notebook, Yuuki’s really got no words that can appropriately express his honour and excitement and pride and everything else. Of course, he can’t turn down an opportunity like this one, so even if he doesn’t get all of the _shutatata-tan dobababa-bam_ lingo the copybook apparently says (he’s also got no idea of what is actually written on there, and that’s despite the fact he’s not too bad at reading Latin letters), he just cannot not throw himself into training as soon as possible.

Having to learn a technique with no visual aid aside from messy doodles and vague instructions – _shutatata-tan, dobababa-bam_ – is one of the most difficult things he’s been confronted to. He’s always learnt through observing someone else or by memorizing pictures, so now that he needs to purely act by feelings, he’s thrown off his game. He has to master it sooner than later, he knows it; so despite his hesitation and the doubts creeping up the back of his mind – can he even know what it is and how to use it, let alone to its full potential? – he focuses all of his thoughts and energy on it.

During these calmer training days, he gets the warm support of so many people: Endou, Kabeyama who is now in front of him rather than behind, Tsunami who seems to never tire despite how many times they’re trying to understand the thing, the rest of the team even.

Endou’s voice cycles on repeat, be it day or night.

**_Mugen the Hand_ ** _is a technique that can see through all shoots. Its secret is **shutatata-tan, dobababa-bam**. With this, you’ll be able to guard against shoots that come from high and low, left and right, and back and forth. Its main points are **the eyes and the ears**. _

Then, he always hears his initial reply.

_Could it be the **mind’s eye** , like what **you see from within**?_

He does have an idea of what his mind’s eye is, as much as Tsunami seems not to understand it (is he too picturesque with his explanations? It wouldn’t be the first time); but it doesn’t help. Closing his eyes just means he can hear noise some more and then not know where the ball is most of the time. The number of shoots he takes right in the stomach or any other body part clearly makes this an unpleasant experience, but Chaos is near and so is the final fight against Genesis, so he needs to find how to summon it as soon as possible.

Tsunami and he stick around for this session, in part because Kidou said so, but mostly because they just get along. Tsunami doesn’t bother him with family questions or doubts about his abilities, which really is a first; instead, he just acts cool, sometimes mentioning his siblings, but most of his words relate to the sea in some capacity. He’s a nice training partner for sure. He’s also a nice friend to have, but as always, he second-guesses how long that’s going to last until Tsunami notices he’s the lesser keeper on the team.

(Why is he haunted by the idea of being abandoned? He’s _on the team_. There’s _got_ to be a reason why he got in).

Endou creates _Megaton Head_ in less than two days. He still doesn’t know what _Mugen the Hand_ is even meant to look or feel like. This isn’t good.

In-between training sessions, sometimes, the others’ relatives call. Even Tsunami had to turn down one during their session because he had forgotten to turn his phone off and it was ringing inside the Caravan. The only reason why Yuuki has a phone is because the dorm required him to get one (it was something along the lines of _it’s in case you’re home alone and need some help_ ), and even then, it’s nothing compared to what most of the others are using. He ignores the nagging feeling in his chest to pick his own phone and see if someone’d have sent him a message while he wasn’t looking.

(Nobody ever does. He doesn’t know what he expected.)

Anyway, _Mugen the Hand_ just won’t come. Tsunami tells him to chill out and take it easy, that it’ll come – he doesn’t really listen. He’s got to complete it as soon as possible, no matter the cost. Failure simply isn’t an option and it’s up to him to make it a success. He’ll do it.

They go in Teikoku for further training. In truth, Kidou wants to learn _Death Zone_ with Endou and Domon – but Yuuki can’t pay much attention to it nor really support his captain because his own hands are full and Tsunami is waiting. Instead, all of his focus is back onto _Mugen the Hand_ , back onto trying to finally picture it and, most of all, make it a reality.

As always, Tsunami reacts to his concerns with the tranquillity of a peaceful sea – _there’re things you can’t learn unless you’re up against real waves, Tachimukai! Let’s charge right in!_ – while he remains in a turmoil, constantly switching from doubt to determination, then back to doubt and stress. Maybe the weight is too heavy for his shoulders, since he’s still a rookie, in the eyes of everything else.

They partake in a friendly match against Teikoku, where truly, if it’s felt a little weird to see Endou wear anything but a goalkeeper outfit, it’s now even weirder to see him wear something that couldn’t be further from a Raimon outfit (well, technically there could be even worse, since he could be dressed like the aliens, but still…). The match itself feels weird too: they’re not really playing as teams, they’re all here to make _Death Zone_ a thing and, while they’re at it, _Mugen the Hand_. It feels like a natural fit.

However, this isn’t really going anywhere. Tsunami gets excited when he somehow stops a shoot with only his hands and closed eyes, but he knows this really isn’t it: he can just more or less locate the ball in the air, now. All of his tries are as unsuccessful as the previous ones have been, yet he can’t get a breakthrough, not even a little idea; nothing. He’s working with vague words and a whole lot of elements to fill in with his mind’s eye. Truly isn’t helping.

During half-time, it’s the same exchange they have. Tsunami asks him why he’s being all stressed out in his little corner, he responds it’s about the _shutatata-tan dobababa-bam_ that has been troubling him for days. For once, however, Tsunami replies in a way gives him hope he’s solved the puzzle there, – _it’s “shutatata” and then “tan”, and then “dobababa-bam”, so…_ – but all he gets in the end is another sea metaphor.

_The sea’s incredible. Even weak waves can wear down rocks if they keep coming, and then they’ll break apart!_

He can’t blame Tsunami for trying to help, so he keeps his disappointment to himself before the former makes him spin around. He’ll have to find the answer to the puzzle himself while thanking Tsunami for his support despite the less than fruitful attempts at helping with the technique. He’s done so many things by himself, this one should be fine too.

The match resumes with a null score and more struggling on both sides of the field. _Death Zone_ just won’t become a thing, so he’s stopping balls as he tries to decipher the same words. Instead of that, however, all he can listen in the back of his mind are Tsunami’s words like they’re a mantra or a key to the lock, even if they’re not, so he needs to stop thinking about it—

_Huh?_

The ball hits him right in the face, sending him downwards and prompting a severe reaction out of Tsunami. Usually, this guy seems pretty chill with everything going around him (that, somehow, includes fighting aliens), but apparently, that’s worried him a lot. However, Yuuki probably is the one to blame at the moment in terms of inattention, since he can barely hear something along the lines of a very concerned “don’t overwork yourself” before Tsunami runs back to his spot on the field. Truth be told, there’s something much weirder going on.

If he couldn’t really focus on Tsunami’s words, it’s because he saw multiples of him. Actually, he’s still seeing multiples of everything around, even if he focuses really hard on them. Of course, that must be because of the ball he just took to the face so unceremoniously merely moments ago. Its landing site still stings a little, right under his eye, but he’s got to brush it off, so he shakes his head and focuses on the matter at hand: the _technique_.

A new _Death Zone_ attempt makes its way towards him, only this time, it looks multiplied like everything else. Three or four (he can’t really tell) dance around a little slowly (feels weird), which is weird, but –

_The sea’s incredible. Even weak waves can wear down rocks if they keep coming, and then they’ll break apart!_

That’d make sense. _Mugen_ , the infinity. “Infinite hands”… This has to mean something. Could it be that he’d need to summon several hands? That’d explain the weird red circles on the notebook which, come to think of it, may have been representations of little _God Hands_ …

And then he takes another ball to the face, once more falling to the ground.

His vision is stable again (thank goodness), so when the next _Death Zone_ attempt arrives, he knows what to try. One more time, he closes his eyes, tries to picture the ball going in the air and only the ball, opens his mind’s eye to the fullest; but, this time, things get shaken up, as he instead pictures multiple hands.

The ball goes through and in the back of the net, and Tsunami seems a bit startled by that, but to his concern, all he asks for is to be allowed to keep trying this. He’s got something on his hands now, he’s sure of it. Now, all he has to do is pursue that little spark of inspiration: this surely will lead him somewhere!

Of course, on the very next shoot he sees, _Death Zone_ gets completed before his eyes and, _of course_ , before he can finish what he’s started once again. Endou, Kidou and Domon pulled through this one in a single day and he’s in awe, the shoot having sent him in such a state of surprise that he was stunned for a moment.

At least, there’s hope for everyone and everything, even for _Mugen the Hand_ and his ability to complete it. The match against Chaos is now right before them, as they gently reminded them after their ball crashed into the field with no prior warning.

The big day is approaching.


	5. Foul Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His first match as Raimon's goalkeeper really doesn't go as planned, but, to be fair, he did expect it'd be that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The match against Chaos from the anime is such a wild ride that I had to include it in this story. I grew up and am following the anime for this, so it does help. Man, rewatching it yet again just showed once more how wild it was.  
> This chapter was supposed to be much more cynical than it ended up being, actually. That's mostly because I ended up relativizing a couple hot takes I had on the episode, mostly about the 10-0 part of this incredibly nonsensical match. I think you see where I'm coming from and what I'm refering to here (something something "the team only cares about Endou smh" something something).   
> In the end, I did rewatch a couple scenes I had forgotten a little about and it became a slightly more positive chapter. Just in time for Genesis to ruin everything, hooza!

Chaos’s provocation sent shockwaves through the air, making it tense for a couple hours. Yuuki can’t say this isn’t getting to him: tomorrow, he’ll be defending Raimon’s goalpost for the first (real) time and, much to his chagrin, _Mugen the Hand_ is far from ready. He’s got a vague idea for it, but that’s it. No feeling, no sensation pulsating through his body like _Majin the Hand_ ; nothing.

_I’m fine. One more time, please!_

Attempt after attempt, hit after hit, his frustration grows and he can tell Tsunami is getting tired of this charade. He may be hiding it under a veil of concern and determination, but someone is bound to get tired of him constantly failing at summoning a technique when nobody has the time to wait for him to do this thing. And maybe he’s trying to convince himself it’s just some issue with his raw power or “not having the right feeling yet”.

_I’m fine! One more time!_

Eventually, as the sun starts to set and everyone’s sweat is tainting the training grounds, it breaks through all the patience he’s tried to arm himself with, and he hits his fists against the ground – _where am I going wrong? No matter what I do, it’s not powerful enough!_ – and as he kind of expects, Tsunami just tells him not to be so hard on himself, that it’s a ultimate technique and it takes time and effort. Okay, sure, but they don’t have the time!

Something about high waves and appreciating the effort. Yuuki doesn’t have the energy or the patience left to reply politely, as he should, to an older boy – so he says a half-hearted “all right” and watches the training session ends with frustration. Forget about fun: they’ve got bigger problems to handle.

His night is a fitful one, to the point he gets noticed by – yet again – Otonashi. Their conversation isn’t nearly as long as it was the last time (to be fair, most of his days have been composed of _Mugen the Hand_ attempts, it’s not like he’d have had much more to say than describing all of the ways in which he managed not to envision the technique properly), but she manages to dig up all of the anxiety he’s festered about the incoming match.

She admits she doesn’t have much she feels like she should tell him, since she’s never been in such tight shoes, but still tells him she’s confident he can pull it off, especially with how much he’s trained with Tsunami and how the team lifts everyone up. She wishes good luck and, with that, she goes back to sleep and he goes back to slipping in and out of slumber.

If it’s like it’s always been, stress and adrenaline will keep him awake just fine anyway.

As planned, they head back inside Teikoku for the match against Chaos. Even as they’re waiting for the black ball to drop from the sky, all ready to go, Tsunami asks him why he’s so nervous, before giving him a pep talk and a vigorous tap in the back, strong enough to cause him to stumble forward. A rude awakening from his daydreaming tendencies, but a welcome one.

It feels so nice to be supported that, even when the ball does come crashing into the soil with a cloud of lilac smoke, he feels pumped up for the match (though, to be fair, the adrenaline and anticipation could also explain some of it). They go to their respective spots and, with that, the match finally begins.

Hearing the kick-off from the goalpost feels like a wild dream he’s never dared having. Even when he could only muse about the situation instead of sleeping, he never imagined the situation he’s currently in: being in Endou’s shoes, on the very border of the field. It’s almost like he’s protecting a sanctuary, the team’s sanctuary to be exact. Instead of being side-by-side or in front of so many of his teammates, he’s now in everyone’s backs, as if watching over them. Talk about a frightening situation to be in, as thrilling as it is!

Touko gets passed through by an ex-Diamond Dust midfielder, who proceeds to gets past everyone in their line of defence and gives the ball to Gazel. A quick pressure of the foot – _Northern Impact_ – and it’s heading straight to the goal.

_Mugen the Hand_ isn’t ready yet, far from it, so he instead takes the safe way and powers up _Majin the Hand_ instead. It’s been ages since he’s used it (and he barely even summoned it, on second thought), and he can only hope it somehow manages to accomplish the miracle it did against _God Knows_ and stop the shoot –

Before he can even blink, the blue giant is fading into a gust of wind and he’s sent flying after the ball. The team doesn’t say anything and he’s lying on the ground, hearing the commentator usually accompanying them scream into his microphone about the sheer power of _Northern Impact_ (he confirms, without the shade of a doubt, it’s a _shockwave_ of a technique). A shockwave that’s still raging a little inside his limbs.

Tsunami and Endou have to pick him up so he can sit back up. His captain is asking if he’s alright, to which he replies with a half-honest “y-yes” (the stutter betrayed him, he’s sure of it). Of course, considering he failed at the one thing he was supposed to do, he immediately apologizes to everyone (and he means _everyone_ : it’s like the entire team went to check up on him, which feels oddly soft and warm, patching over wounds).

Endou and Tsunami exchange words of reassurance for him, telling him not to worry about it, that it’s just the beginning, that they’ll catch up before he’ll know it – their voices are full of hope and optimism that spread to him. He nods, stands up and watches everyone take back their places on the field, reprising the role of the keeper with more intensity and will power as before. No more goals will get past him!

Their counterattack looks like it’ll be a success, at first: Gouenji and Aphrodi get past the first line of defence, only for _Heaven’s Time_ not to work on one player, sending Raimon back to defend and… well, Burn is here, right in front of the goal. _Atomic Flare_. Maybe, this time, _Majin the Hand_ will stop it and the score will be safe. He just needs to put everything he’s got into this one and –

Same result. Of course.

Their line of defence loses all momentum, then all composure as Gazel and Burn keep getting past everyone at what seems to be the speed of sound, leaving him to be the last line before ice or fire gets thrown right into the net. It repeats, and repeats, and repeats; ice, fire, ice, fire; sometimes it’s a technique, sometimes it’s just a shoot; but he barely has the time to do anything and the whistle doesn’t mean much, after a while, because he’s got that hole in his stomach and every bit of air has been squeezed out of his lungs.

They’re losing ten to zero, it’s all his fault, and he’s still rising to his feet, even as breathing in doesn’t sound right (he’s wheezing, isn’t he? Hard to tell, everything’s a bit unresponsive), even as trying to catch back his breath burns. If only he had at least a minute to swim back to the surface instead of being shoved underwater, maybe he could fix that wheezing issue, but for now… He doesn’t know how long he’ll even be able to breath. Each shoot comes earlier than the previous one.

And the eleventh shoot is already heading right his way, judging from Endou calling his name out. Truth be told, he’s barely standing and his left eye keeps giving into the jolts of pain, so he can barely see the Atomic Flare, but he’ll just sponge the shoot out and maybe this time it won’t get past the white line, somehow –

Endou rushes to the goal, summons _Megaton Head_ , and saves the team from taking another point. He watches his captain roll in the whirlwind caused by the techniques’ encounter, in slow motion, suddenly numbing to the constant dolour. The team rushes to them as he stays speechless, everyone screaming Endou’s name in concern, who then rises back up, holding his head, and all he can do is think of how much it must have hurt to take an _Atomic Flare_ to the head.

The team recovers their spirits, one by one, so he watches the line of defence finally shape back into form. He’s got to say, for even a moment, he’s a bit envious about how that didn’t happen when he was put in the same sort of gauntlet; but hey, understandable, Endou has been with them for a longer time, of course they’d be more worried about him. Plus, the hit he took on the head must have hurt a lot more than the ones he took, considering he at least had the opportunity to slow them down with his hands beforehand (ha).

Moreover, the team has better things to do and think about (him included: _Mugen the Hand_ won’t find itself). Their defence is solid, but their offense is going nowhere due to Chaos defending as well as they do. Kidou is most likely trying to find the one opening the team can exploit, so they must focus on it. Still, their plays are excellent and finding a flaw in them is going to be difficult to say the least.

Still, Kidou is Kidou, and after a little while, he manages to find the one grain of sand that paralyzes the whole machinery. Endou heads up, so does Domon, and the three of them launch in the air to create the now familiar triangular shape of _Death Zone 2_. And, with a valiant attempt of the goalkeeper to stop it by setting his fists on fire, Raimon scores its first goal.

You know, there must be a way for them to win. With how strong the team is, there’s always a way, if they try hard enough. Still, now that they know they can score goals, it’d be a shame for them to take hits; so he better get his game on, now that he can breathe properly. He slaps his cheeks and goes back to focus, suddenly filled with an energy he hasn’t felt in a while.

Burn speeds right past Kidou, Endou and their entire line of defence before viciously jumping in front of the goalpost. The volcanic heat of _Atomic Flare_ rises once more in the tense air but, this time, something feels different. The way he sees the ball is different: he can see it through the dense flames, see its exact trajectory as it flies through the air. He can hear it coming like it’s close to him, as if he now had a sonar. He knows what to do, now.

Here it is: the ultimate technique, _Mugen the Hand._

With a clap of the hands, he summons four more from his back, encapsulating the shoot in one stronghold before it stops in its tracks and into his gloves.

The ball is still smoking as he realizes what he’s just accomplished. He’s almost breathless for a moment before the idea sinks in: he’s done it. He’s used _Mugen the Hand_ and prevented the team from tanking yet another shot. All those hours spent training with Tsunami and the others have paid off. He can fix his blunders from the beginning of the match by preventing anything else from breaking through the last barrier before their score.

The rest of the team runs to him once more, but this time, the atmosphere is entirely different: it’s one of joy and relief. He can see sparkles in Tsunami and Endou’s eyes as they rejoice about what just happened. It feels like a huge step-up from less than forty-five minutes ago, considering the end of the first half just got announced.

The air is so much lighter as they prepare for the second half. While he doesn’t really focus his attention on most of the explanations Kidou make – mostly because they’re for the players who actually go up and down on the field, while he’s just stuck in one little cosy place – he registers that Chaos may be eating itself out like a snake biting on its own tail due to internal differences. Tsunami makes a remark that Otomura must have been behind the spark of genius Kidou had.

Just before they all leave the bench for the second half, Endou tells him to guard the goal. Knowing what he can now do, he doesn’t need to be asked twice: he replies with a nod and a confident yes because, as it stands, he feels powerful. He’s finally on the level of the Raimon Eleven, how great is that!

The second half opens up on what is the most impressive counterattack most must have seen. Raimon gets back to the score hit after hit, exploiting what he can clearly see from his side of the field fatal flaws in Chaos’s ranks: as their name suggests, disorganization remains in their ranks despite their captains scheming in synchronicity. As such, his teammates keep taking advantage of these holes in their formations and plays, exploiting their dissensions based on how Diamond Dust was composed when they fought them.

The score steadily rises from a 10-1 to a 10-7. The more it goes up, the better the atmosphere becomes, until Gazel and Burn seem to have had enough of their own teammates going against their own common interest and dash past everyone. Before they really know it, they’re standing right in front of Raimon’s goalpost for what must be the fifteenth time today, jumping together.

_This is the power of Chaos! The power of the strongest team in the universe!_

_Fire Blizzard_ breaks through _Mugen the Hand_.

As his hands shatter, so does his confidence, and the air changes once more. The tide goes back to Chaos. He rises once more to his feet, only for his team to once more run to him. All he can think of, when Endou says his name, is to apologize for not stopping it when he promised to himself he’d finally prevent the score from rising.

Still, Endou is a kind soul. Instead of scolding him, he gently tells him to stop it next time and reminds him that the ultimate techniques have no completion, the very thing he found when _Seigi no Tekken_ seemingly didn’t work as promised. Having that in mind, he decides there’s no point in despairing and to focus on improving _Mugen the Hand_ instead, since Seigi no Tekken improved so much during their match against Epsilon.

There is very much still a hope.

The match takes a sharp turn from then on. Chaos is mending its own flaws, patching differences out one at a time, while Raimon tries to exploit the few ones left. Tsunami prevents _Fire Blizzard_ from happening again by stealing the ball before ice and fire can meet. Gouenji and Aphrodi’s attempts at breaking through Chaos’s defence don’t work as well as they’d like to. Aphrodi gets stubborn. Very stubborn. Too stubborn, in fact, that everyone is practically begging him to switch out. Rika is yelling on the top of his lungs to the coach to be switched in for him, only for the coach to refuse. Aphrodi collapses, gets up once more, gets interrupted by a black-and-white ball.

Gran of Genesis stops the match before it can go too far, arguing with Burn and Gazel for something about “being chosen for Genesis”.

The encounter ends on that: a match that never ended. Endou gathers Aphrodi in his arms, who doesn’t wake up from being jostled. Rika wants to end their coach’s life for not letting her enter the field. They leave the stadium for the hospital, maybe for Raimon when they’re finished there, in silence, heads low and not a word to exchange. Tsunami pats him on the shoulder as they get back into the Caravan.

Today’s been a hard day for everyone.


	6. Reaching for the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the last battle before the fight against Aliea Academy reaches its conclusion; yet he's still unsure if he's really fit for the job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I'd end the year on another Inazuma fic, but hey, I'm not opposed to ValSoul having one last chapter before 2021 comes to kick our asses.  
> Y'all are getting 4.2K words for this chapter because I didn't want to split episodes 59 and 63 from the core Genesis match, no matter how over the place episode 59 is (and episode 63 became like one paragraph because I had nothing to say about it).  
> I love the match against Genesis more than I love myself, so that's also why this chapter is so goddamn loooooong. I had to include some gritty neaty details and shit. Got all purply in that one too, for some reason. Oh well; at least Gran's words made for some super cool angst fodder. I know it's only been not even one chapter since the last self-depreciative introspection bit, but hey, the series was like that and I'm living for it. Deal with it, I guess?  
> It's so weird to think episodes 60 to 65 happen in the same day. Jesus, talk about an exhausting ordeal, I'm surprised Raimon Eleven didn't outright faint after everything.

Their comeback to Raimon isn’t as serene as anyone would have liked, Yuuki would assume, because the air is somehow tenser now than it was during the match against Chaos. Bringing Aphrodi to the hospital brought the mood down, then the idea that they could have been used as tools by their own coach became the nail in the coffin.

He isn’t sure of what exactly happened with their coach, actually, but he knows it’s bad, especially when they’re this close to go to Mount Fuji and dismantle Aliea from the inside. They got no real explanation as to why they should do this, especially since Natsumi dropped the piece about Gran having called her his sister.

He watches Ichinose and Domon swear they’re not going to Fuji with her, Endou trying to cheer them up and gather them as a team once more, Kidou leaving saying he needs to cool his head down and everyone should too, and then everyone following suit. There’s no point in staying here, after all, so he leaves too, unsure of what to do or where to go.

For a while, as he watches the sun set, he stays in a pensive trance. He has no real reason to decline going to Mount Fuji, as he wholeheartedly believes Endou’s idea that all the answers they’re seeking must be waiting for them there, so he quickly decides he’ll be going. In the meantime… well, he may as well train, he supposes. There’s this sensation he felt during the match that he feels like he can’t let himself forget, as much as he had forgotten about it up until now due to the recent kerfuffle… not to mention he’s just not feeling like going to bed this early.

As if guided by some sort of fate, he comes across Tsunami juggling with a stray ball on the way back to the Caravan to retrieve his uniform and, you know, get something to eat because it’s getting late. They exchange their opinions on the matter at hand – Tsunami is going too, as it turns out – and come up with some sort of dinner (he’s more used to full meals than he thought he was) before he gets carried to a spot Tsunami learnt about: the infamous Inazuma Tower.

Seeing nothing better to do with his evening, Yuuki accepts. Training together sounds a lot better than if he was to do it alone and, frankly, he appreciates not being left alone with his thoughts when the situation is this tense: Tsunami is a comforting presence to say the least, it’s like he can’t feel unsafe if he’s near him. He doesn’t really know why that is or how, but he doesn’t mind. It just… fills something he’s been craving without realizing it, he’d say. It’s like he finally has a companion he feels like he can call as such.

The sun finishes setting as they’re exchanging kicks and catches as they exchange some light-hearted things about their usual lives: he tells him about his dorm life at Yokato, Tsunami tells him about his siblings and how much he loves every single one of them (Yuuki speaks far less because of that, but he doesn’t mind, his siblings sound like a charm to spend time with). They somewhat disagree on the status of _Mugen the Hand_ – Tsunami thinks it looks good, he thinks it’s lacking in power, nothing major – and he gets his “never-say-die attitude” complimented. They should probably head back to the Caravan and get some rest before the day rises back up, but one more shoot can’t be too bad, so he asks Tsunami one more time and –

Someone’s there, and it’s not anyone either: it’s Endou!

He tells his captain about the feeling he’s got earlier today and how they’re training to exploit it before Tsunami attempts to explain what’s been going through their heads before just switching to once again complimenting him, saying to their team’s historical goalkeeper how amazing he is and how he keeps powering every single time they’re trying. He doesn’t quite know where to put himself as Tsunami speaks his mind out, ruffling his hair out with a vigorous yet gentle hand – is that what Tsunami does to his younger siblings?

No time to think about it, however, since Endou is there. They’ve talked about it a little already and, considering the situation, it sounds like the right thing to say, so Yuuki tells him both Tsunami and he are going to Mount Fuji with the team.

They put an end for the night to the training session as they all discuss in front of the stunning view of night-time Inazuma. He can very much understand why Endou must have gone there to train: it’s an isolated place with a beautiful landscape, the ideal place to exert oneself and rest afterwards. Unlike him, who is still remembering Ichinose and Domon’s outburst, Endou is certain everyone will join and fight against Genesis in Mount Fuji.

When he asks if they shouldn’t go back to the Caravan (it’s getting really dark out here), their captain says they better get training again. Oh well. They can’t train too much when there’s such an important match facing them.

This night is shorter than the previous one was, obviously, but it’s no downside. Being this tired by the end of the day meant he managed to catch a good sleep, for once. And, sure thing, as Endou predicted, everyone is going to Mount Fuji, even Ichinose and Domon who come back with a bit of sheepish attitude. It’s such a good thing to see as they’re boarding the Caravan back to a new uncertain dose of thrills and adventures… and now his heart is beating way too fast.

The trip to their destination does take some time. He hasn’t thought of bringing a book with him when he left Fukuoka so, as usual, he observes his surroundings to keep himself busy. As such, he gets curious about the technique Endou is looking at in the copybook: it’s apparently a technique that requires the hearts of eleven to feel as one, a technique only possible in a team that knows and understands each other. It sounds like an amazing technique and, truth be told, if there’s one team that can do that, it’s Raimon – especially if Endou says so.

Their arrival to Mount Fuji is a really weird one. They do manage to get inside Aliea’s headquarters fairly easily, come to think of it, but they get attack by robots going after their skins. Luckily for them, most of the team has a strong kick, so the mechanical army is subdued fairly quickly and easily. Before they know, they learn Aliea’s whole alien thing was only a façade, they’re facing Genesis and they’re getting ready in a changing room without a single soul speaking. The anxiety must be seeping in everyone’s bloodstreams by now, not just his.

He can’t help but pull on his glove himself, after all, even after he’s certain he’s got his whole outfit on and his gloves as tightly put on as possible. They’re now truly in the jaw of the beast with now way out, no way back home unless they win their last fight. At least, after this match, they’ll have stopped Aliea once and for all and everything will be back to normal. Everyone will go back to their routine and… ah. He doesn’t really want to leave Raimon, does he?

He shouldn’t think about it too much. There’s still the match incoming, this really isn’t the time to get lost in negative thoughts about what isn’t even true at the moment.

They start on a tense footing, as both teams stare at each other with the clear intent to win the battle. Genesis is clearly determined to beat them to the ground, considering the speed at which they go and – Gran is in front of the goalpost. _Don’t get overwhelmed, this won’t be like when they beat your team, you’re with Raimon now_. Ryuusei Blade shines in front of his eyes, almost blinding, but he remembers to focus and use something.

He should’ve expected _Mugen the Hand_ to easily break under the sheer power of the best team Aliea has to offer; yet his fall still hurts a little; albeit the bruises are more moral than physical.

It’s coming back: that nagging feeling of powerlessness he felt when Chaos broke through the technique he had sweat so much blood and tears for, except this time, the team follows suit and nobody manages to lift their heads up. The coach has to scream them uplifting speeches: he can hear her words and see the atmosphere around the team change once more to the soothed-out optimism that’s more typical of them.

It doesn’t change the bitter taste in his mouth, nor the fact he doesn’t know what he’s going to do. Gran broke through _Mugen the Hand_ and, at the moment, there’s nothing he can do to change that fact. Is he not good enough to replace Endou? Should have he remained a midfielder and helped that way? Surely there must have been a casting error when Coach Hitomiko composed their team line-up. There’s no way he’ll be able to do this.

It only takes one failed shoot ( _Procyon Net_ looks stronger than titanium, he can feel it from _literally_ the other side of the field) and an even more failed attempt at defending against Gran and his blue-haired teammate to reach his goalpost and – oh God, _Ryuusei Blade_ is already back. Crap, it’s broken through _The Wall_ and _The Tower_ , and it doesn’t look like it’s lost even a bit of its power.

Obviously, despite his best attempt at stopping it, he feels the hands around him break once more and being thrown with the ball right into the net – wait, who’s that, jumping behind him?

It’s Tsunami. He’s all upside-down and frowning, but as soon as Endou tells him he’s done a good job, he’s smiling again and making a peace sign with his fingers, sounding not bothered even in the slightest, only citing “it made him look a little uncool”. That explains why the ball jumped to meet the bar instead of the net, even if… Ah, crap. That should be his job, dammit!

His first reflex is to apologize to him about that, of course; but all Tsunami tells him in response is not to worry about it. Domon adds that all he should think about is how to stop _Ryuusei Blade_ next time. The question isn’t really how, though, in his mind – it’s _if_ he can even do that in the first place.

Because he’s such a flaw in the team’s design, Raimon is stuck defending against never-ending attacks from Genesis, to the point he sees Gouenji and Rika run to defend their side of the field. And, even with the ten of them handling it, they’ve still got issues stopping Gran from shooting whenever he feels like it – he barely stops a shot before getting pushed back by the recoil again – wait, is that Fubuki entering the field?

For a time, the atmosphere changes, with Gouenji and Fubuki charging to the goal… only for _Procyon Net_ to stop them again. And, would he know it, Fubuki gets won over by Gran who then proceeds to rush for the goalpost. The déjà-vu feeling in his stomach keeps digging its way down as he’s left to muse what to do now.

Before the cycle can start again, however, Tsunami tells him to cheer up because he won’t find any solution if he hangs his hand so low – only to then create with Touko and Kogure, right in front of his eyes, a new technique. _Perfect Tower_ is born in the context of a real crisis and he doesn’t know if he should be relieved or not about its existence. he should probably untense a little knowing it’s now here, he’d guess – but the dread never leaves. It never has.

And so begins a new the cycle of anxiety. The ball goes back to the forwards, but Fubuki fumbles, so Gouenji shoots him right in the stomach. The team gets overwhelmed by Genesis once more as their forwards pierce through the lines of defence and, once more, _Ryuusei Blade_ appears in Gran’s feet. Perfect Tower doesn’t stop it, instead shattering shortly after impact, and he remains frozen as the next goal is about to be scored.

This time, and not unlike another similar situation, Endou arrives to save the goal with _Megaton Head_ , saying he won’t lose. The ball bounces back and touches Fubuki on the other side of the field, and for a moment, nobody really knows what’s happening inside their teammate’s head (Yuuki doesn’t, that’s for sure), but soon enough, Fubuki’s aura changes and he scores the first point for Raimon of the match with a brand-new shoot technique – _Wolf Legend_. What a feat, pulling himself together at a time like this…

But you know what? He can ~~most likely~~ do it too. Considering how terrible Fubuki must have been feeling all this time, permanently benched after suffering so many identity crises, after being exposed to so much abuse from their opponents, after watching Raimon suffer from the side-lines – he pulled through and saved the team. And, in a way, that’s what being part of the Raimon Eleven does to you. It rises your morale up so much you find yourself getting stronger day by day.

Gran speeds by the defenders. _Ryuusei Blade_ shines over the field one more time.

He won’t give up, because, at the end of the day, like Fubuki, he’s part of the Raimon Eleven too.

A third pair of hands rises from his back and, sure enough, the ball safely lands in his hands rather than on the ground, along with him. Gran looks dejected about it, but he can see Tsunami and Endou smile at him, the former enthusiastically celebrating the catch. Megane says something about “grade two”. In his mind, however, only resonates the theory Endou proved true before: the ultimate technique will keep evolving as long as he never gives up.

He hasn’t felt this feeling of pride in what seems a long time, even if it must have been a couple days at best – lately, time has gone very fast and he can’t tell how much time has gone by since he’s joined the team. He feels in control of the situation, like everything will be so well from now on. The team’s joy pulses through his veins too.

The celebration is short-lived, however. They learn things about Aliea that makes everyone highly uncomfortable with implications and details alike. Genesis aren’t even under the influence of the Aliea Meteorite like they’ve been led to believe. Genesis players agree, saying their Father’s soccer is impossible for Raimon to understand, and proceed to resume the match.

Perfect Tower stops Gran in his tracks. The opposite goalkeeper stops _Wolf Legend_ with a new technique – _Space-Time Wall_ is their new objective to destroy. Gran, Ulvida and Wheeze (that’s their names, right?) gather in front of him, power up an attack, and then it begins again: the cycle comes back, more vicious than ever, as _Supernova_ breaks through _Mugen the Hand_.

They get doused in a new speech about Genesis’s strength. Kira attempts to wave them the other way, telling them they trained the same way Genesis did and aren’t much better than Aliea for it, evoke how Raimon’s previous players were weak – they got injured for a reason, according to this man’s speech. For having seen Raimon playing, for having seen their smashing defeat against Genesis back home – he knows these words are wrong. The man is just provoking them, and well, it’s working: even he, who hasn’t been in Raimon’s ranks for a long time, is getting upset hearing this. He can’t imagine how terrible long-time players like Kabeyama or Gouenji must feel right now.

Endou clearly takes it the hardest out of them all, yelling back at the glass cage from which they’re being watched, charging into the void, trying desperately to get his feet on the ball like a wild animal let out of his cage. Gran continues to tease him, over and over again, as Endou keeps falling to the ground from aimless charges, _Endou_.

Then the poison sips through his skin and into his blood.

_Go back to being goalkeeper._

His throat knots, as if strangled from the inside.

_It’s not worth defeating you guys unless **you’re** the goalkeeper._

He doesn’t hear what Endou says afterwards, nor knows what to do when their four defenders get blown away by _Supernova_. He tries to stop it, in a hurry, pulling everything he still has together as if running for his life (he’s terrified – of what, he doesn’t really know, but he’s _terrified_ ); but it’s not enough and the only thing that saves the team is Gouenji and Fubuki’s surprise appearance in the goalpost, their combined attempts resulting in a little dance of frost and flames.

The ball hits the bar once more, saving them the third point (for now), but the intoxication continues with Gran’s words.

_A goalkeeper who needs everyone’s help to cover for him. He’ll be your weak point and reason for defeat._

The words hurt but, the thing is, he’s _right_. Since the beginning of this match, the weakest point of the team has been his inability to stop shoots. If he wasn’t like this, so weak, so meek, the team could be attacking without a worry in the world, like they were when Endou was in his place – or rather, before he stole Endou’s place only to massively mess up. There’s no use in denying it.

Endou, still possessed by his rage, replies in a growl – _they’re not weak_. They’re. Plural. He’s talking about Raimon’s former players, those who got too injured to fight against Aliea, those who got their souls crushed by continuous bruises and torment from people who had always had seemingly lightyears on them. They’re not weak, he agrees – but he’s not part of them.

The first half ends on Endou throwing himself on the ground as the team stares in half-silence, the air having turned heavy and uncomfortably hot, as if clinging onto one’s skin like a humid day of typhoon season. It’s a smothering atmosphere to be trapped in.

The ambiance is sombre, almost solemn. From up close, it’s easy to see how frighteningly furious Endou is at Genesis and their lies, to the point he’s been blinded by his own feelings (it’s a familiar situation, to be fair). Coach Hitomiko tries to calm him down by opening up once more, explaining she tried to do the same with her father on her own with only power by her side, but it didn’t work – as clearly visible by the situation they’re in – leading her to realize, thanks to Endou and thanks to the team, that being together is the key to changing one’s heart. Fubuki joins in, citing his misconceptions to have been dissolved through teamwork –

And Endou slaps himself.

Almost the entire team gasps (he sure did) before he bows and apologizes to everyone. Gouenji and Kidou join his sentiment. Tsunami and Touko, joining the collective pulse, rise the mood back up, invoking their collective power. Before long, they’re all pumped up again and seemingly ready to hit the pitch again.

Endou tells him with a smiling face that they’re counting on him. All he responds with a dishonest “yes” and an expression that can’t have been a good lie either.

The second half starts in a whole other way than the first. Endou tricks Gran into some sense of security and, before long, all passes have connected to the opposite side of the field, where _Death Zone 2_ gets past _Time-Space Wall_ and evens the score out. He can’t really hear what Endou and Gran are discussing back there, but what he knows is that Genesis is furious and let loose as they’re running towards him, once more using _Supernova_.

It gets through _Mugen the Hand_ yet again. The cycle repeats, however, as Endou jumps behind him and uses _Megaton Head t_ o push the ball away. Gran, in denial and perhaps angrier than Endou was ten minutes ago, charges on again, uses _Supernova_ again, and he –

_Stand up, Tachimukai_.

Endou, struggling to get up, tells him as they’re both on the ground facing impending doom.

_You’re Raimon’s goalkeeper, Tachimukai! You’re the one who protects Raimon’s goal!_

Tsunami calls out to him, followed by the rest of the team, as if chanting for a second, and he knows there’s only one thing he can do.

_He’ll protect everyone’s goal._

Rising once again to his feet, ignoring the forming bruises he can already sense coming, he calls for _Mugen the Hand_ , managing to summon one more pair of hands, stopping the shoot before it can do more damage to their score. Pride and relief come back for a second round as he shakes hands with Endou, while he can see in the corner of his eyes the dejection of Gran’s face and Ulvida’s sneer towards them.

Still, the match isn’t over, and Genesis’s reaction clearly shows it. Their “Father” asks them to release a limiter (whatever that is – it sounds threatening, though, at the very least), to which even Gran objects, before submitting himself to paternal orders. The effects show immediately as Ulvida steals the ball from Endou, heads for the goalpost in seconds and call for yet another new technique he’s never seen and can only feel sickening shockwaves from.

_Space Penguins_ sends him back into the net. Its power is terrifying, sure, but when he sees in how much pain its users are put right after getting back up, he can’t help but think this is probably where it ends – it’s a technique that can literally kill its users. This is among the scariest things he’s ever had to face, come to think of it.

The team, however, doesn’t let this scare them. Endou bypasses Ulvida’s tackle, which eventually leads to Fubuki and Gouenji scoring with a new technique that, in a way, reminds him of when they stopped _Supernova_ earlier. The score is tied, so they’re all celebrating while Genesis looks at them in contempt, enraged.

He can feel their fury from how quickly they’re heading towards him, blowing past everyone else, and immediately proceeding to summon the penguins again. He knows very well he can’t let this get through him, not now, not when they’re finally back to an equal score and so close to the end of the match – he’ll stop it. He won’t let them score anymore goals!

It hurts to push into his limit, since his hands are starting to sting, but he manages to pull through the strength of the shoot and through his own limits to put an end to this. For the third time in the same match, _Mugen the Hand_ evolves, crushing the penguins under its four new hands, and allows him to throw the ball back to Tsunami.

It’s the last action of the match, so everyone passes the ball to each other. It reminds him of something – the technique Endou described earlier today, actually, the one with eleven hearts beating in unison – as the ball reaches their captain. Fubuki and Gouenji join him to make a shoot unlike anything anyone on this field must have seen before, exploding with feelings and the verdant lush of nature, which then proceeds to blow through Genesis’s entire lineup, including the goalkeeper.

Despite their best efforts, acting as the very last line of defence, Gran and Ulvida don’t stop this one, and _The Earth_ scores the last point, putting an end to this match and, in a way, to the war on Aliea Academy.

The joy inside Raimon is unanimous as they finally bask in the light of having defeated Genesis, the seemingly invincible team. Their celebrations are at first accepted by Genesis who gets over their loss, Kira even stating his daughter has opened his eyes thanks to the team she’s trained so far – that is, until Ulvida’s feelings get the best of her and prompt her to launch a soccer ball that ends up landing into Gran – _Hiroto’s_ – stomach.

What follows is a poignant familial moment that maybe, just maybe, Raimon shouldn’t be here to witness. It feels a little… weird, to be here, while everyone opens up about the situation; but, to be fair, it was about time. That is, until the headquarters self-destructs, forcing everyone to run outside for their lives. Not exactly the most glorious end to a battle, but… is this really the end? Doesn’t this sort of tings ends when the celebrations do?

No time to think about it.

After some risky adventures in the Inazuma Caravan, they safely land outside the mountain. Genesis looks down, Coach Hitomiko thanks them for everything before leaving with her brother and foster siblings.

They depart from Mount Fuji, hearts filled with happiness and glee, heading towards the bright sun and back to Inazuma.

At long last, it’s time to take a deep breath and appreciate peace.


	7. The Colour of Despair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The celebration turns into a game of blood, sweat and tears right before his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, huh... Remember what I said last chapter, about "Reaching for the Stars" being the last chapter for the year? I maaaaay have lied about it, in the end, since... I wrote this chapter in a single day just because I love the Dark Emperors match this fucking much.  
> I think I was hyped about it because 1. I just really like rewatching this match 2. it's one where I had so many little things to change I was just excited to implement them into this story 3. the chapter which comes next also excites me because it'll be self-indulgence central.  
> Yep, this is the first chapter with a semblance of a canon divergence. In the grand scheme of things, I don't think it's a major one (there'll be a much bigger one later down the line; you'll see), because the end result is the same for the match and all, but... Ah, fuck me, you'll see.  
> On that, and for the second time for this fic: goodbye, 2020. You were a terrible year, but at least, I've managed to write some Inazuma while you raged on.

Their celebration were more than short-lived. The sun may have shone on them when they were back in Inazuma, it didn’t prevent them from being greeted by a thick fog as soon as they reached Raimon Junior High for the end of their supposed end-of-the-war-on-alien party.

Former Raimon Eleven players were waiting for them there, dressed in black cloaks with red lining and a purple soccer ball that sounds like it grated Endou’s skin off his hands when he tried to stop Kazemaru’s shoot.

Despite lacking the emotional connection most of his teammates must have with them, Yuuki recognizes most of the people there from the matches they’ve watched back home with the team and the hours he’s binged of _God Hand_ footage. It’s terrifying to see what they’ve become, all of them, with purpled sclerae and that soulless rage he can feel emanating from all of them, around their coach, whose face he can vaguely recognize from belonging to the man who was besides Kira back in Mount Fuji.

That man with the creased cheeks explains his dastardly plan to make his own human army, relying on that poison that is the Aliea Meteorite – that’d explain the strange yet pressuring aura their former comrades are radiating and the state of their eyes, that’s for sure. It doesn’t explain why these old friends from past battles suddenly turned to the enemy’s side, however; and that’s probably what scares them the most.

The _Dark Emperors,_ they call themselves; or, rather, it’s the way their “coach” calls them _._

Endou tries to call Kazemaru back to reason, but all the latter tells him is propaganda for the powers of the meteorite that’s corrupted his mind. He speaks about speed, power and energy; the other join him as soon as their former teammates try to respond back with anything that could potentially bring the team back together. It’s no use, Yuuki would suppose judging from the nefarious side of their aura, but he doesn’t say anything: truth be told, he’s never even gotten to know those who he’s seen with his own two eyes.

Endou attempts to refuse Kazemaru’s offer for a match, supported by the rest of them – but the Dark Emperors threaten to destroy Raimon Junior High again, forcing the team into an ultimatum nobody wants to concede to. It’d seem like the end of the road hasn’t come yet, for them. Oh well; he’s part of the team, so he can’t help but feel the same desire to bring these guys he’s admired for the past year or so back to reason.

Raimon gathers one last time before the match starts, where the newcomers tell the original players they’ll bring their support. After all, they’re all part of the same team, at the end of the day; it’s part of their duties, even as newer members, to show the fallen they can climb back up from the pits of powerlessness.

He may not have felt the same level of despair, he can still understand where they’ve come from. He believes there’s a way for them outside of the Aliea Meteorite and turning to nefarious means.

It almost feels like a flashback when Raimon starts the match with an attempt attack, only to be intercepted by the inhumane speed of the opposite team’s captain. Kazemaru runs like a wild animal in the middle of the savanna, as if he wasn’t even limited by his own body anymore, as if he didn’t have that limiter Genesis had to turn off just to score again and attempt winning against their own bodies’ advice.

A mere shot from this guy breaks through _The Wall_ and forces him to use _Mugen the Hand_. To his bittersweet relief, he does stop it, but the power this normal shoot sent terrifying shockwaves through the entire field and he can’t help but think – how bad is it about to get? How powerful are these guys? What is the true extent of this meteorite’s power?

Gouenji and Kidou attempt to lead an attack into the Dark Emperors’ side of the field, but it’s not real use. _Shooting Star_ stuns Ichinose into staring at Shourin and Shishido as if he had seen a ghost. _Bakunetsu Storm_ gets squashed between two fists. Someoka blows Kabeyama and Endou way with just what seems to be willpower and the power of that purple-flashing rock. Fubuki may have stopped him, it doesn’t mean it’s had any effect on what really concerns the team.

It’s an uneasy feeling for a goalkeeper to watch his teammates from the safety of the goalpost, to hear Fubuki wonder why he can’t reason with Someoka (to be fair, Yuuki’s got _no idea_ of what that could be all about, he wasn’t there yet – he can just sense in Fubuki’s voice it’s been troubling him and it’s coming from a deep wound), to listen to Kidou and Endou put into words just how badly they need to win this match despite what seems a power imbalance.

And imbalance there is, considering the first point is score by _Dark Tornado_ after it’s gotten through both Tsunami and Kogure, and then through him as well.

The managers are saying, from the side of the field, that’s it’s just one point, that there’s still time, still hope; but Kino’s begging with her fists clenched and Otonashi is clearly trying to hide the nervousness in her voice. They’re probably all trying to convince themselves – commendable effort. He should probably do that too.

Still, the Dark Emperors aren’t finished, far from it. Their line of offense digs through their layers of defence so quickly that, in a minute or two, Someoka is already facing the goal once more. Fubuki runs back to the penalty area in an attempt to stop the technique, trying to sway his former teammate into coming back to his senses, citing a promise to be like the wind together – Someoka doesn’t listen, forces onto the ball, blows Fubuki away.

He’s never faced Wyvern Crash in the flesh before, but what he knows is that his attempt to stop it is a fluke. _Mugen the Hand_ doesn’t even last for a minute before it crackles and shatter into the thousand of bits he’s seen it become so many times already, sending him crashing into the ground while Someoka celebrates his goal, while Fubuki gets tormented by corroded laughter, while the score frowns at them, while –

His wrist hurts more than it should, even after a fall like that. He doesn’t believe it’s anything grievous worth mentioning, but… it’s not reassuring.

Still, the match continues with another Dark Emperor attack on their side. New techniques still get unveiled, like the one Kazemaru uses to brush past Endou as if he was just an obstacle in a slalom course, or the one Handa and Max bust out right in front of the goalpost.

Facing _Ryuusei Blade_ and _Supernova_ over and over again earlier has gotten him used to facing that sort of shoots, he’d suppose, considering he’s not scared of the bright flash of _Revolution V_ heading for the goal. That’s one thing, sure, but it doesn’t mean _Mugen the Hand_ is powerful enough to stop it: even by forcing on the pain he’s already feeling rising in his hands and wrist, even by trying to dig his feet into the ground, it breaks through him once more.

Seeing the goal get saved by Endou’s head while he’s getting blown away by whatever technique he hasn’t stopped is trying to sound like a recurring theme.

It’s not that he isn’t grateful (or relieved) for his captain to have done so, but – ah, crap, his hands are becoming an issue too now. He’s pretty sure they’re starting to bleed, actually, considering the fabric of his gloves is starting to stick to his hands a little too much for comfort.

He’s apparently taking a little too long to rise back up, considering Endou runs to him and kneels to his level, asking if he’s okay. Truth be told, he kind of isn’t and the pain is scaring him, but he’s the goalkeeper of Raimon and complaining about the pain just isn’t something he’s ever seen Endou do, even against Epsilon Kai, or against Chaos, to some extent.

It just stings a little, after all.

The first half ends on the despair of losing two-to-one. Still, Hibiki relativises thanks to what he must have analysed on the field. The Dark Emperors, by virtue of having been teammates with most of theirs, know how almost everyone will act. As such, Tsunami becomes their trump card, the joker in their deck of cards. Nobody on the Dark Emperors’ team has played alongside him, which makes him the perfect player to unlock the situation.

After some discussion about how they’ll proceed from then on, the team gets motivated back (to be fair, resting and sitting down must have been a great contribution to this feeling). The second half may start in an unfair way for them, but they’re Raimon – they’ve been through worse. They can manage to turn the tide against their opponents no matter how bad the situation gets.

(He hasn’t even tried to take his gloves off, come to think of it. It’d probably hurt if he tried, though.)

Never mind about the optimism: the Dark Emperors are as ruthless as they were in the first half, perhaps even more so, considering Kazemaru is blatantly throwing Endou to the ground when the latter tries to steal the ball from him. As a bonus, Endou gets kicked in the stomach by a shoot. Tsunami gets furious at Kazemaru, tries to shake him up, but ends up slammed to the ground too. Fubuki intervenes after that, declares he’s here thanks to the team, and _Perfect Tower_ allows Raimon to gain control over the ball once more.

Hibiki’s theory is right: Tsunami is their key. His shoot straight for the goal may not have scored directly, but it made the tide having cleared more than obvious enough for Fubuki to grab the ball and score with _Wolf Legend_. Like a game of domino, their offensive power snowballs and allows Gouenji and he to score again with _Crossfire_.

However, like with Genesis, evening the score out only prompts the opponents to borrow into their deeper source of power. The meteorite shines once more under the Dark Emperors’ clothing, their eyes filling with that sickening purple light, and they pierce through the defence line. Kazemaru, Max and Someoka run together, in a familiar-ish triangular group position and… a bird of shadows bursts from the ground, engulfed in purple flames.

 _Dark Phoenix_.

Endou demands him to stop it, which he attempts to oblige to with as much strength as he can gather. The thing is, this _Dark Phoenix_ shoot is a _beast_ unlike _anything_ he’s ever faced, making _Supernova_ pale in comparison, and he feels like his hands may shatter if they keep trying to stop it for long enough. In the end, it pierces through him, giving the Dark Emperors their third point.

_Stand up, you’re Raimon’s goalkeeper_ , he screams to himself as he regains his footing, desperately trying to ignore the throbbing of his hands and the burning sensation in his right wrist. They’re definitely bleeding by now, under the leather of his gloves; but it’ll take more than this before he admits to anything. This match is too important to recoil in pain away from the field.

 _Stay up, you’re Raimon’s goalkeeper_. Remember how brightly Endou shone even when the times were dire. Remember how, against Zeus, _Majin the Hand_ burst from the belly of the Earth at a time where there was seemingly nothing left. Remember how _Mugen the Hand_ came to be, how you kept rising up even when you couldn’t breathe anymore, even when the frost and flames held your throat hostage, even when you yourself didn’t know if you could do this.

His wrist is probably sprained by now, but it doesn’t matter.

The Dark Emperors continue to charge forward, attacking everything and everyone in sight, unleashing a flow of techniques more brutal than the last. _Triple Boost_ makes it first appearance, prompting Kidou to switch Raimon’s strategy to a desperate attempt at defending their goal. It sounds a little too much like what happened during the matches against Chaos and Genesis for comfort, and, well… He’s here to watch the waltz of his teammates feverishly stop whatever enters their side of the field.

One by one, he watches the team gets taken down by a never-ending flourish of attacks as they struggle to stay up, some of them collapsing to the ground either upon impact or shortly thereafter. The feeling of helplessness rises back to the surface, like a slow ascend of bile, as Rika screams from the bench and attempt to help Ichinose, already running to him, who begs her not to come into this, not to let herself get hurt, because he’s fine, _they’re_ fine.

_Revolution V_ strikes Endou right in front of his eyes, the ball bouncing right back into Kazemaru’s feet – _now there’s no one left standing in our way!_ – and into the summoning position for _Dark Phoenix_. The bird appears once more, covered in smothering heat and darkness, glaring right inside his eyes as it rushes forward.

He can barely feel anything in his hands that isn’t stinging pain and the tearing of his wrist, but he takes a deep breath, looks up and gathers his trembling fingers into fists before, for what feels the hundredth time in so little of it, summon forth _Mugen the Hand_ ; because, no matter how he’s feeling, how terrified he is or how quick his heartbeat is…

_I won’t let you score!_

The pain that suddenly flares up when his hands do connect is almost unbearable, but he focuses on his breathing and, mostly, on needing to stop that thing before it can strike their net. His feet are slowly but surely pushed back into the ground, even as he tries to push it back, to bury them in the soil as if they were seeds. It seems like yet another desperate attempt, but hey, he’s somehow still there, when he’d have been blown away earlier… It’s got to be the one try where the ultimate technique will evolve once more and save the day.

Endou, who apparently has managed to get back to his feet in record time, puts his hands behind his shoulders, giving him much needed support. With this, if he focuses enough, if he believes hard enough, he’ll be able to accomplish a miracle, the one where he can somehow stop Dark Phoenix from coming in, from –

From winning the battle his team needs to win the most.

In a moment in-extremis luck and adrenaline rush, the number of hands on the ball multiplies by two, three, – four, he’d say? – and, like that, the phoenix has been tamed.

He’s left breathless by the end of it, and the energy from the showdown has thrown both Endou and him off their feet and onto the ground. The ball leaves his hands before he can really do much about it, bouncing far off and onto the side lines; or, rather, he’d guess that’s what happened, because his vision is starting to be a little iffy.

Speaking of Endou, he’s right there, still sitting, while he’s lying on the ground – he suddenly feels too winded out to get back up – and is the one to ask him if he’s okay as he gets him back up. Yuuki attempts to reply, because he’s got to and he doesn’t want Endou to worry, but all that gets out of his mouth is a choked _y-yes_ because all he can really feel is exhaustion and pain.

Despite his answer and knowing what’s going to happen if he shows it, he can’t choke out the grunt of pain that has been stuck in his throat for so long. This prompts Endou to want to see what’s been hiding under the gloves, asking him to show what’s wrong. Yuuki doesn’t really do much, just lets himself be handled by his captain.

_I… I can still fight…_

His voice can barely form words, by now, because of how dry and tired it’s become. He’s not sure of what Endou’s reaction is to whatever was under his gloves – all he knows is that it hurt when he pulled them back – or of what the commentator is saying, of why he can feel Endou get either concerned or scared because he can’t tell the difference anymore, and that’s worrisome.

He’s… not really there anymore. He’s certain Kazemaru and Endou are discussing about something, but he can’t understand a single word of what they’re saying. He can even barely feel the hands Endou has around his shoulders, even if he’s the only reason why he hasn’t fallen back down. It’s probably just the pain playing with his senses, nothing he can’t fight against, even if… N-no, he can’t think of falling asleep, not now… not him… not now…

Can’t… let himself fade away… now…

The field turns pitch black as his breathing finally evens out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ironically, my own right wrist also hurts a little from how much I typed in a single afternoon.


	8. Watered-Down Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When he wakes up, the storm has already passed and something still bothers him about the sudden peace and quiet.   
> (it's guilt, isn't it)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is... well, I'm not exactly satisfied with it yet (I'll probably grow to like it more later, when I'll see its flaws less). Still, I wanted it out the door because I have so many other cool things I want to write about for this story and it was just getting in the way.  
> Why write it, then? Because 1. I wanted a calmer chapter to sweeten the pace that's been very intense-ish lately 2. I wanted yet another TachiHaru bonding moment ecause it's my fic my canon divergence elements 3. it's a sort of hommage to one of my first Inazuma fics, [Burning on the Outside, Burning on the Inside](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13636797).  
> This chapter does mark the end of the Inazuma Caravan arc of the story, as we're now entering the "whatever happened between the aliens and the world cup" arc or, as I shall nickname it, the Back to Normalcy arc. I guess. I'll see.

When he comes to, Yuuki can’t remember most of the dream he’s just had. All he got from it was that it was filled with weird imagery – he’d say it was probably fuelled by the recent events. Speaking of which, he doesn’t remember falling asleep, although considering how tired he already was after the match against Genesis, it should come to no surprise that he was exhausted enough to fall into such a sudden yet deep sleep.

 _Wait_. This isn’t the Inazuma Caravan. It’s not even Yokato’s dorms nor nurse’s office. Where is he and why was he sleeping in a bed when he should have been with the others in sleeping bags on the seats and floor of the Caravan?

Come to think of it, he doesn’t have a single idea as to what happened during the match against… the Dark Emperors, he believes their name is-slash-was? All he can remember was the strength of their shoots, their raw plays, the way they took down all of the team right before his eyes and… _Mugen the Hand_ reaching a stage he didn’t think he could ever bring it to (it’s more like remembering a feeling than anything else, in this case – visuals are missing). After that, it’s pretty much all void and black. Maybe the few shards of voices he feels like he’s heard in his dream were real?

Oh. He didn’t dream at all, did he? All of what he thought were vague memories from said dream must have been real and he was in such a state that he couldn’t even tell. That’d also explain the big hole in him despite the lingering tension of the match sticking to his skin like clothes soaked by the pouring rain. Please don’t tell him he didn’t even finish the match…

A feminine, familiar voice says on his left – Otonashi’s, to be exact, if he isn’t mistaken.

“Thank goodness you’re awake!”

He sits up, only to feel a jolt of pain when he tries to rely on his right wrist, forcing him to manage things out with only his left hand. Not exactly the handiest thing possible, but…

“Hey, don’t overdo it!”

He snaps out of a daze as, sure enough, Otonashi rushes to him, dropping whatever she was holding so she can pin his shoulders and push him back in a pillow behind his back. She looks and sounds genuinely panicked (or angry, it’s a little hard to tell, but he thinks she’s mostly scared of something),

“Where are we?” He asks, noticing how dry his throat is as soon as he speaks.

“In Raimon’s infirmary. She hands him a glass of water. How are you?”

He eagerly downs the glass, which she takes from his only functional hand before he can attempt to put it on a hypothetical bedside table (there doesn’t seem to be any, but she seems like she won’t let him get up so he can do so himself either).

Confused, to say the least.

“Yeah, I’m sure you are. Fainting like that, then waking up in a place you don’t know… It must be a weird experience.”

He gulps. Did she just…

_Did he **faint**?_

Otonashi sits on a nearby chair (that he didn’t notice until it looked like she was going to rest on thin air – he’s an idiot) as cold sweat pearls on his back. Uh oh…

“No wonder you don’t remember… Actually, what do you remember?”

He goes through what little memories he has: going against some of Raimon’s old players, losing, the team starting to get beaten down. The last thing: stopping some sort of shot with _Mugen the Hand_ (he thinks). It’s a mess in his head, so he can’t really guarantee anything being accurate.

“That’s actually pretty much what happened! You stopped _Dark Phoenix_ with a new evolution of _Mugen the Hand_ , then you passed out, and Endou came back to the goalpost and Rika replaced you so the team could continue the match. It ended in a tie, but at least, our friends came back to normal thanks to Endou’s efforts and that’s where it all ends!”

He must be staring at her in disbelief, and if so, it’d be because he is in front of a major realization: he wasn’t there for the end of the match. Even worse: he was pretty much asleep while his team was fighting against their Aliea Meteorite-brainwashed comrades. He was _asleep_.

“Tachimukai? Is everything okay?”

He stares at his hands. His left one is bandaged, with one stain of dried blood around the bottom of his palm. His right one is in the same case, except his wrist is in a splint he can’t even move it without it burning. He can kind of remember it hurting when playing earlier (specifically, he remembers it causing him pain after failing to stop _Wyvern Crash_ ), but that’s it. Seems like he’s mistreated his wrist more than he thought.

He stares at the window next. He can’t see much from what angle he’s got, but he can see what he believes to be two teams rejoicing in the courtyard. From that distance, he can’t tell who is who, but he thinks he can recognize Raimon’s outfit and the weird bodysuits their brainwashed friends were wearing. The memories of that are vague at best, but he does recall them wearing body-tight grey and blue outfits. He must have been focused on their shoots more, considering his main memory is Kazemaru’s eyes digging into his, tinted in purple and rage.

He suddenly asks Otonashi if everyone is okay as his head turns to her, making her jump in her seat.

“Y-yeah, they are. Endou lost consciousness for a moment, but he managed to get back up and save the match. Everyone’s been a little ruffled up, but I can guarantee you, everyone is fine.”

She then whispers something under her breath, but he can’t tell what. None of his business, he’d guess.

He can’t believe it. In the last stretch, in the very last moments of their fight against Aliea, right when all of the team needed to be here and free the few prisoners the Aliea Meteorite had left, he couldn’t withstand it and spent the rest of the match far from the field. How is he supposed to show his face to the team when that happened? It was meant to be their last standing against the enemy and he was… too weak for it.

Maybe Gran – Hiroto – was right. Maybe he really was Raimon’s weak point all along. It wouldn’t surprise him, honestly, considering the number of times his teammates – does he even have the right to say that? – had to defend the goal for him. Would have it not been for Tsunami and Endou’s constant encouragements and patience, he’d have absolutely shrivelled down and stood frozen, _useless_ , as everyone else suffered the consequences of his own inability to do anything he was tasked to fulfil.

_What’s wrong?_

Otonashi’s question snaps him once more from his swirling thoughts.

When he looks back at her, he only sees concern all over her face. She doesn’t look angry, nor frustrated, and he doesn’t get it, because he’s already ignored her questions twice so far because he just keeps delving back into his memories and thoughts, as if that was going to serve anything. And – oh c’mon, you’re doing it _yet again_!

“You look like you’re in pain. Do you want me to go fetch Mr Hibiki?”

He shakes his head.

“I’ll be fine; just shaken, is all.” (He omits to her how undeserving he feels).

“You’re sure?”

Her insistence is what finally gets under his skin. He’s too tired and bitter to maintain a semblance of a façade, so he looks down once more, staring at the hands that gave into the pain before they should have.

“In the end, I wasn’t that useful to the team, was I?”

Otonashi doesn’t say anything, at first; but he can sense her mood changing almost immediately after he speaks.

“What do you mean? Everyone is useful in a team and you’re no exception. Have you forgotten you were their goalkeeper?”

“W-well, no, but…”

“There’s no ‘but’! What makes you even doubt that? Do I also need to show you the broadcast of the match? The number of messages we received from Yokato’s team?”

She’s quoting Yokato in particular… Right. If the match was broadcast to the entirety of Japan, they probably watched it, since everyone back home is a fan of Raimon… That must mean they saw everything.

“It’s just…” His words die in his throat. “Never mind. It’s just me. I wish I could’ve been there with the others until the end, but I guess that wasn’t meant to happen, right?”

Neither of them speak for a moment, searching for their words.

“You did your best. I don’t think you should have regrets if you did everything in your power. Everyone in the team did, so why couldn’t it be the same for you?”

He looks back at her, noticing her expression is oddly calm, for someone who he’s mostly seen be proactive and easy to excite. Her stance is firm and determinate, unlike his which is slumped and closing a little on itself.

“You’re right. I just need to get over that.”

Then, a smile appears on her face, and she tilts her head as she gives him a wink.

“If you feel well enough, we could reunite with the others, don’t you think? Just be careful to your hands!”

Her enthusiasm is a little too contagious to ignore.

“Sounds good to me.”

He gets up from the bed, her hands hovering nearby in case he tripped on his feet, before she gives him inside shoes (and his actual shoes, but he knows better than putting them on right here and now), and they head outside.

He shouldn’t be surprised, yet when they reach the courtyard, the whole team is waiting for them, smiling. Before long, he feels the sentiment of belonging in the team again, letting the others’ worries wash his own concerns away for even a moment (they’ll come back eventually – but bliss is bliss), as they all celebrate their last victory against Aliea, joined back again with old comrades he’s never had.

The sun is shining brighter than it has ever had, now that the cloud have passed.


	9. Sunset in Fukuoka

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All journeys have to eventually come to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you ever wonder what the Second Raimon recruits did after the Aliea arc ended? No? Me neither.  
> Well, until I realized I had to write this chapter, that is.
> 
> Originally, I thought the next chapter (on which work has already started, I know, that's rare) would be the end of the season 2 part of this story - turns out that won't be that way, as I thought I could at least round that arc up to 10 chapters.  
> It gave me the occasion to spectulate, at least, which by know you must know is what I love the most about writing this fic. It's always fun to imagine what the characters did when the camera wasn't focused on them or after it stopped rolling. Plus, you know, more BROTP crumbles for me. 
> 
> I have to say, developping Yokato characters is both fun and annoying as fuck, because we know nothing about these guys and I have to invent everything myself. It'll be fun most of the time, unless I want to get a point across quickly, because then I'll be sent back to the wiki trying to remember who is who. I'm very proud to say I now know Rainbow Loop Guy's actual name, though, now.

The Caravan makes its way through Japan in the order he guesses it has the first time: Hokkaido, Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka and, finally, Okinawa, the only other part he had the chance to see. It feels empty and too silent: the core members of the Raimon Eleven (or, in other words, the actual members of the team who will continue to attend Raimon Junior High) are all absent, since they had no point in going through Japan _again_. Frankly, he’d have probably stayed home too, if he had been living in Inazuma or nearby.

As it stands, however, Yuuki will be the second-to-last to go off the ride, so he’s got some time to waste until he gets home – that includes one last night in the Caravan.

Tsunami and he chose to sit together in the same spot, because really, he didn’t see himself sitting elsewhere. He isn’t close enough to Fubuki or Rika to sit next to them, and Kogure… Well, he’s seen from a distance his relationship with pranks (that is, ever since he had to be told the curry they ate back in Yokato wasn’t meant to be _that_ spicy – he found it just right, but apparently, that wasn’t supposed to be). He’d rather not spend the next few days getting pranked.

They tend to just speak about whatever they have in mind. It’s nothing deep, obviously, because both of them are tired and just want to go home. At least, Tsunami feels this way: he speaks about Okinawa like a lost paradise, longing for the waves, the sandy beaches and his family. On the other hand, Yuuki now realizes the only thing he’s been missing from Fukuoka is his team: nothing else makes him feel the same sadness he can sense from Tsunami’s voice and words, the way his eyes look to the side with a glistening light in them, when his friend speaks about his family and how much he misses speaking, playing, spending time with his parents and siblings.

Yuuki feels odd about it – surely he should be missing something other than Yokato, right?

Tsunami and he watch their teammates get down the bus, one by one, stop by stop. First is Fubuki, so when they go down, Tsunami discovers snow for the first time and they just end up spending most of their time there outside, forgetting for a minute about homesickness. The frigid temperatures almost give Tsunami a cold, but they get back into the Caravan without any lingering microbes.

Then comes Kyoto, where Kogure goes down, and not hearing the shrilling screams of Rika getting pranked first feels nice, then makes the Caravan feel empty, prompting Yuuki to realize just how important Kogure’s facetious personality brought the Caravan to life. Their stop in Kyoto isn’t even really a stop: it lasts for a few hours, barely the night, and he struggles to fall asleep due to how many noises he’s hearing in the old Manyuuji dorms. The wind blowing against the old, crackling wood is a nice distraction from loneliness, he figures.

Finally, they stop in Osaka and spend the day away there. Rika drags them to meet her teammates, the Osaka Gals CCC, and eat at her mom’s creperie. It’s by far the most active stop day they’ve had, to the point he doesn’t really gave the energy to drift into darker thoughts. It’s a blessing in disguise, however, because without Rika regularly turning back to tell her about her life stories, the silence in the Caravan, Tsunami and he are all alone to fill in the void left behind.

The thing is, neither of them has much to say: they’ve been desperately filling a hole for a week. They’ve both run out of funny anecdotes to say, especially him – unlike Tsunami, who is older, has a large family and has a ton of wacky friends in Okinawa, Yuuki doesn’t have much stories that don’t make his friend wince a little. He’d much rather stay quiet and look through the window and admire the landscapes than sour the mood even further.

Eventually, they reach Kyushu. The landscapes start losing the never-seen-before charm of Hokkaido, Kanto and Kansai, instead feeling more and more familiar: even if he’s never been there exactly (he didn’t get to visit even his own prefecture much, which is comically opposite to Tsunami’s travels through Okinawa), all of these places have that something he’s only seen in his prefecture of birth through school trips and matches with Yokato’s team around said prefecture. Their journey only lasted for two matches before another Fukuoka-based team inflicted a stark 3-1 on them – that was the last match he had played as a midfielder before joining Raimon and he had ended up benched because of a twisted ankle trying to stop a forward.

The Caravan stops for a day in Fukuoka. It parks in the entrance of Yokato, like it did what feels like months ago (it’s only been a couple weeks, he knows it, and he’s already mentally preparing for all the homework and lessons he’s missed), and as soon as it stops, the entire soccer team stops practicing and runs to them. It’s almost overwhelming to see, especially in front of Tsunami who doesn’t know a single soul on the team. Yuuki spends something like ten minutes introducing everyone to him, but aside from that, everything goes smoothly. He reunites with his usual dorm room, invites Tsunami to sleep in it instead of the Caravan’s floor because his usual flatmate isn’t here anyway (he doesn’t know why, but since it’s so convenient, he’s going to assume Chihiro is at home with his parents), and once again struggles to find sleep. It’s starting to become a leitmotiv.

However, as soon as morning rises, he needs to say his last goodbyes of the season. Seeing the sadness in Tsunami’s eyes as he’s about to enter the bus again, Yuuki almost hesitates to stay here and instead walk back into the Caravan, already thinking of a plan of how to reach Fukuoka from Okinawa so his friend won’t have to stay behind alone with the driver – but Tsunami taps his shoulder before he can say anything and pushes him back outside before the door closes.

The team is very excited to have him back. Toda more or less reads to him a speech about how they’re all so proud of how far he came with Raimon, how they had always believed he had it to succeed. Matsubayashi gets out the big guns and reminisce on the day he burst out he wanted to become a goalkeeper, leading the team to go on a little retrospective and man, he was _not_ ready for this: he’s melting on his chair, face burning, and the team just relishes in his flustered reactions. A day as usual at Yokato, just with the moving speeches as a catalysing supplement.

It’s only when he awkwardly tries to high-five with Toda using his left hand that the latter remembers his teammate never saw the end of the fight, failed to see the moment where the clouds let up and gave stead to the sunlight. In their euphoria, they had forgotten about the ending of the match or, rather, the moment Endou reprised his role as Raimon’s glorious goalkeeper – and that sends a cold wind on the field, because everyone knows they cheered for Endou’s return, but it’d seem rude to mention it to this face, no matter how many times he says he understands the sentiment because, would have he not been the substituted keeper, he’d have cheered the same.

In an attempt to forget about the fairly awkward realization, Matsubayashi jumps ships and decides they should be doing practice. It’s the weekend and all of them are here instead of home just because their teammate is back, so Yuuki feels like he should accept. Plus, he really wants to show his original friends how far he’s come… but he still has to decline, even if it hurts him, because he literally can’t play at the moment.

Toda is the one who has to explain why he’d say no. Up until now, he’s been able to hide the ugly culprit under his jacket sleeve, but its presence just floats above everyone, so he lifts the sleeve up just enough for it to be visible. His hands may not be the bandaged mess they were after the match, but the splint causes his teammate’s faces to soften or turn into a frown, depending on their initial reaction to his refusal. An unspoken question floats in the air, to which he replies without being prompted to, if only to break the heavy silence setting in.

_It’s not as bad as it looks. I got told I’ll be able to play again in a week._

Of course, learning their freshly back teammate cannot do the one thing he left the school for, the one thing they were all looking forward to, drenches the mood. Still, they perk up, gently punch him in the arm, and ask him how it felt like to play with Raimon. Of course that quickly devolves into a session where they want to know little things about his now former teammates (that hurts more than he expected to think about), and it feels like home.

It reminds him of the times where the team would gather in their little clubroom and watch FF matches, cheering for Raimon and their players, all squeezed against each other in front of their little TV screen that someone got from their grandparents or something – as far as he knows, this person isn’t even attending Yokato anymore. It’s almost like he never left, if he ignores the splint on his right wrist and the fact he’s the centre of attention when he’d usually stay in the background.

He’s noticed a little change, however, throughout the following days, and it’s in the way his teammates speak to and about him. Up until Raimon’s stop in Fukuoka to retrieve Endou Daisuke’s long-lost copybook, he was the newbie on the team, looked after by everyone else, sometimes held by the hand. While he didn’t like being treated so differently, he could understand it: only first-year on the team, latest recruit, etc.

The thing is, he didn’t expect that’d change this early. The school year isn’t even halfway done and the team is already past that and now looking up to him, almost, and it feels weird – the change isn’t welcome. It feels weird and, knowing how disastrous his tenure as Raimon’s goalkeeper actually was, he can’t help but feel a little uncomfortable. He’s trying to take in stride and relish in making his team proud, but aside from that, he’d much rather do without the complete opposite of how he was considered before.

And, you know, maybe he liked being treated like the youngest of the group, like Tsunami did. It felt comfortable, on second thought, like a cushion to always fall back to. It’s like he got thrown out of bed, in a way: it’s not a feeling he’d like to have on repeated occasions, but it feels like a necessary evil, in a way.

Plus, if there’s something that is going to feel like a page turning, it may as well be growing into his own shoes and show he’s indeed worth being considered a Yokato player like everyone else. If his teammates have stopped babying him, it must be for a good reason, and he’ll show them how right they are to trust him like Raimon did despite Endou having been their goalkeeper for so long… that is, when his wrist will be back into a working state, because right now, he’s benched. It kind of happens when you’re a goalkeeper who can’t use his hands.

To be fair, he could also do with the break, because the neck-breaking pace Raimon was on for a couple weeks was unlike anything he’d felt up until that point. It’s frustrating, because he wishes he could show _Mugen the Hand_ off to them, but on the other hand, he knows how much they’d be angry if he played despite his injury. He better take his patience in stride and watch the team play to see where things could be improved.

Taking his time to enjoy life sounds great, right now. He should at least try it out.


	10. Summer Loneliness Syndrome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This summer is unlike any other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't think I'd be finishing chapter 10 so soon after finishing chapter 9, but to be frank, it was always going to be on the shorter side - just to establish more continuity because this show loves to screw with my sense of time passing, you know?  
> I also needed to seize the opportunity to address there is no way this thirteen-year-old _child_ didn't get at least a little traumatized by what the fuck he saw and lived through during the Aliea arc. Also, you know, I have to introduce one subplot's seeds that will take effect in the next entry in the series. Gotta have that continuity rolling baby!

By the time the Caravan got back to Fukuoka, the current period was almost over, so Yuuki spent most of the months of May and June catching up in missed lessons and assignments. He was already thankful enough to have been given more time to complete said assignments (when he asked his teacher if it really was okay for him to get said delay, she replied he had helped save the country and that he at least deserved not to have a zero by default), so he didn’t think of complaining and got to work immediately.

Chihiro was the one to make him realize just how much time he was spending on catching up, not without a hint of worry, especially since for a little while he couldn’t even attend practice as a result. Of course, knowing he had just gotten through admittedly worse than catching up on a couple weeks of missed school, Yuuki replied it’d be fine and kept pressing until he was all done and, incidentally, the holidays came around and everyone in the dorm was sent home.

Truth be told, he’s always had conflicting feelings towards summer break. Most of his class has always been eager to spend time outside of school to see their friends, but he’s never been able to do so himself. Most of his friends have either gone to different schools, moved prefectures since the end of elementary (so he’s lost contact with them, of course) or live far enough away from Fukuoka to be living in the dorms (such as Chihiro), so most of his summers have been spent in this weird sense of loneliness you never get told about on TV.

At least, until now, he had had caretakers at home in the meantime. Most of them were as silent and uninterested as a summer-long babysitter can apparently get (not that he saw himself interact much with some of them, their auras were… rancid, to use a term he’s learnt recently in Japanese class and as weird as it sounds), but some of them made his summers better by bringing him to the library, the cinema or whatever else boys and girls his age could do for fun.

The thing is, this year’s summer break started in a weird way: his parents had recently opened an email address for him, mostly so they could reach him without worrying about cross-country phone costs and all, so he was still learning how to navigate it properly. The first message in his inbox was them informing him he’d have no babysitter this year: they deemed he was old enough to know what to do and, if he needed help, he could always ask the neighbours or search it up online.

Well, if his parents say so, then he must be old enough for this, right?

The first thing he thinks about doing is when he’ll be going to sleep and when he’ll wake up in the morning. At first, he thinks about throwing an all-nighter or something to celebrate being left alone at home, since everyone else at school or at soccer practice has always pretty ecstatic when they’d be left to their own devices, even if it was just for an hour. The problem is that he’s a little too tired from the added schoolwork before the break, so he gives up on the idea, guessed he’d have been bored after a while, and habits catch up to him before he knows it.

If his sleeping schedule is working at the rate of his dorm life, he now realizes he’ll have to cook for himself. He’s not entirely foreign to the concept due to cooking classes from elementary school, but it’d be his first time without guidance. Well, the pantry has been refilled the last time his parents came home, which must have been barely days before he himself came back from the dorm with the dirty laundry. If he can take care of that by himself, then cooking can’t be much harder, right?

Spending summer all of his own is boring and he’s afraid he’ll spend all of the money Mom and Dad left on the table at the convenience store down the street, so he buys only what he needs, which is food and a refill of washing machine cleaning fluid. He sometimes can’t help but spend money on some less useful things, mostly to satiate some curiosity he’s had about a recipe, but that really is it.

Since he doesn’t have better things to do than going outside for a while and discovering the Internet on the PC his parents have always had in the guest room in the very back of the flat, he ends up doing a lot of the latter, especially on days where it rains. Most of the time, he gets lost on forums about whatever he’s been watching on TV or on cooking websites, which is where he picks up a lot of useful (and less useful) tips and tricks, along with new recipes to try out.

Cooking keeps him busy for the most part. He knows it’s a little unconventional for someone his age to partake in so much of it from what he hears back his neighbours, who sometimes knock at his door for a variety of reasons (asking if he has sugar or salt because they forgot to buy some, warning about noise inconveniences, selling things he’s never really interested in…). He’s fine with it, however, since he can do something with his hands and doing the dishes tends to be the only thing that’ll keep his head empty of darker thoughts.

At least, to his luck, soccer practice still happens. They’re down a few players due to who has gone on holidays with their parents, who lives too far for it to be worth the effort and who has other activities during the summer, but they manage with what they have. He’s never used his bus subscription as much as he has during the break, that’s for sure, considering he has to get and come back from Yokato at least a couple times a week. The coach tries not to call for them too often due to their irregular (and dwindling) number, so he doesn’t mind. It gets him out of the house and his thoughts, and that’s something he needs right now.

He once again tries to avoid speaking about his life at home, not because he personally finds it boring to listen to (it’s mostly him cooking, doing chores around the house and watching TV, after all), but because most of his teammates look perplexed by what he’s saying. He’d like to speak about the books he keeps finding in his parents’ bedroom or what he assumes to be their study as he cleans the dust around there, but he’d much rather his teammates spend a nice time and keeps quiet. He’s still not sure what’s so bad about staying alone if his parents say he’s old enough to do so, but it’s probably due to him being the youngest on the team. At least, that’s what he got told: older teammates tend to dot on younger teammates, like Tsunami did with him back at Raimon.

Despite keeping himself busy with soccer practice, cleaning the apartment and feeding himself (sometimes with half-failed dishes, which he then proceeds to generously spice up so they taste less… inedible), Yuuki still finds himself missing the Raimons. He may have been with them for a short amount of time, and in a very stressful situation he has troubled dreams about, he still got attached to them and there’s nothing like discussing with Tsunami about whatever they have in mind or seeing Endou show how he’s the captain of the best national team. _Nothing_.

Actually, come to think of it, outside of the Yokato Eleven, he isn’t seeing many people these days. His neighbours are some of the calmest around town, and he feels a little too old to go play with the children in the shared garden (old enough to be on his own, old enough to be on his own…), and he doesn’t feel like bothering them with things like feeling lonely (he needs to be responsible, now that he’s on his own). No matter how much time he spends on chores around the house and the books he finds, reads and promises to finish later, there is nothing like human contact – and, man, he wishes he had an older sibling like Tsunami or Toda right about now.

The feeling is even stronger when, in his sleep, he sees the purple-tinted eyes of former Raimon players, or the crazed smile of Burn, or the frigid stare of Gazelle, or the bloodthirsty expression of Gran telling Endou he should be the one in his shoes – when he wakes up from the visions he still hasn’t processed. It always happens in a jolt and a cold sweat, like the nightmares he used to have as a child, like the ones he’d tried to keep at bay since a girl caring for him told him to keep it down so she could sleep.

One day, he’ll let himself process everything, from the moment he spotted the Caravan to the moment where he was back in town – but, for now, it’s still painful

Life will never be the same in so many aspects. He’s not the same boy who hid behind Michihata so Endou couldn’t see him because he was that timid. He’s not even the same than he was during his Raimon debut, after seeing The Genesis through its team and then the one he admired. He doesn’t know to what extent he’s changed but, considering the team has started treating him differently and how his own parents let him live without a caretaker for two months, he has to guess it’s a large difference.

It’s weird to realize so many things have happened in so little time. It feels like yesterday when he was just an ordinary freshman in junior high trying to focus on a math class, and now, some of his teammates say he’ll go down in history – feels weird to think when most of his days have been about sustaining himself and discovering how taking care of a house is. It’s like he grew up more in weeks than he did for a couple years. That’s what being a teenager is, he supposes as he goes back to his chores. He’s been able to install a routine to follow, at least.

As part of said routine, he usually checks the mail too, now, even if most of the time it’s just advertisement he ends up throwing into his recyclable papers and cardboard bin. However, one day, things are different than usual: in the mailbox is a peculiar piece of paper that gets his attention. Unlike any mail he’s ever received, it’s address to him: most of the time, it’s instead to his father’s name, but not today. It’s contained in a fairly fancy envelope, paper smooth under the touch, with a return address in Kanto.

Opening it reveals it to be an invitation and, to his bewilderment, it’s one inventing him to come to Raimon from Coach Hibiki. There is no reason given, aside from the fact it’s soccer-related. He wonders how they managed to get his address, but you know why? They probably just asked his coach.

What’s more interesting is why he’s been sent this invitation… He guesses he’ll have to see next week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's on this not-really-a-cliffhanger that the Aliea/Inazuma Caravan Arc stops. We're around a third into this story, since the InaJapan/FFI Arc should last longer than this one, but hey, we're getting further than I thought we ever would! My Tachimukai chronic brainrot syndrome's really out there to kick me in the ass huh?  
> See ya later for even more salt than usual!


	11. Chance of a Lifetime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The invitation in his mailbox brought him to heights unlike anything he'd have expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I'd take even longer than that to get to the FFI arc, since it's longer and my memories of it are much hazier than season 2 (I'm an Aliea Arc stan first and human second). I believe I do have enough canon material gathered for it now and that other chapters should be, for the most part, less of a chore than this one to write.   
> I'll be real with you and say I don't like how a lot of this chapter came out, but that I also have no idea how to adapt the selection match better than that. The match was boring (thus why I didn't even bother, you'll see) and in itself it's just Kudou being Kudou. I had to rewrite it once already and there's no way I'm bothering with a second round lmao.  
> Still, I had to write it so the rest of the arc could happen, and I'm relieved to have this thing out of the door at long last. Welcome to the second half of Valiant Soul, everyone, I'll promise it'll be better than this.

To his surprise, the invitation in his letterbox was one to a selection match for Japan’s representative teams in the Football Frontier International, the worldwide version of the one he’s familiar with. Yuuki doesn’t quite know why he got picked over a lot of other goalkeepers whose names have made the rounds around schools all across the country while these guys are surely better players than he is: it’s weird to see Genda Koujirou, the _King of Keepers_ , sitting on the bench allocated to Teikoku players having come to watch their teammates in the match, while he’s in the goal.

Well, to be fair, nobody who came two days ago really expected it either. They were all mysteriously invited by Hibiki to Raimon for some reason related to soccer and that was it. For a couple hours, everyone in the gymnasium was left to wonder why they were here, some tensions arose and others were at each other’s throats, but at least, he reunited with Tsunami and a chunk of his former teammates of Raimon. Just for that, he’d have found the train trip worth it.

Back there, the team they had formed to fight back against Aliea got to reunite. Most of them were there, after all, except for Rika (and Aphrodi, which on second thought is weird: someone like him, with the reputation that he had and the prowess he showed during the short amount of time he was in Raimon, would have made him eligible in his mind), so they discussed a little the events of the past season. They were all content with getting back to their normal lives but missed the team and realized they were much above their team’s level, now, aside from Raimon members, as most of them had fought against Aliea up to some extent.

What he was surprised to hear, however, was that most of the others had the same issue as him: visions in the night of what had happened to them. Touko recounted tales of seeing _The Tower_ getting broken over and over again, Kabeyama of losing the entire team to defections, and judging by Kogure’s very specific denial, it was safe to say he had been affected too. It wasn’t just him and, while he mostly felt sympathy for them since it was painful to wake up from this as frequently as they were going through, he couldn’t help but feel a little relief about not being entirely alone.

The other thing they shared was their doubt towards Hiroto and Midorikawa, both of whom were in Aliea teams. Unlike Touko and Fubuki, however, he can’t remember the latter, but understands for the former: no matter how much calmer and politer he seems now, his words from the match against The Genesis still ring inside Yuuki’s mind and nightmares. He’d better keep these apart if they end up sharing spots on the team, however: he can’t jeopardize everyone else because of bad memories and what must have been a much more traumatic experience for Hiroto than for him.

When he let Inazuma that day, he didn’t quite know what to make of it, stuck between the exciting prospect of the FFI and the lingering shadow of the past which had sent conflicting messages on his strength and potential. There was only one way to tell, he’d have guessed.

Now, when he came back to Yokato for soccer practice and had to announce he’d have to skip the session on the following day, the team got suspicious. The mood immediately changed when he told them it was because he had been preselected as a representative for Japan, news which sent the entire team into a frenzy: their junior was going to be on a national team and that excited them more than anything they’d seen since Raimon’s visit a couple months ago.

When they discovered he had gone to Inazuma all on his own, most of them were bothered, so they decided four of them would go with him for the actual match on the following day. Toda, who was at the initiative of it, was the first to be picked. Matsubayashi, Ishiyama and Shika, the three people he trained with the most to develop _God Hand_ , were subsequently picked and there they were. It felt a little overwhelming to think the team was so behind him that they didn’t mind crossing the sea for an entire day just to watch him in a match after which he may not even get selected as a representative.

The back to Inazuma on train felt a lot different with other people accompanying him. The first time around, he was mostly concerned with getting down the train in the right place and spent most of his time watching the different landscapes go by through the window, but with friends, he forgot about doing either and instead relished in some good time with them. They had never gone to Inazuma, unlike him, so he got to talk about the city and Raimon Junior High itself until they reached it and they could see it by themselves. It was overall a much more enjoyable ride.

What’s less enjoyable and more stress-inducing, however, is the selection match itself. There’s twenty-two of them (again, weird that Endou and he are the only goalkeepers around – and there is no way he’s better than Endou in that regard) and they got split in two full teams with only one real goal: show they’re worth being a representative. It’s nerve-wracking to think about, especially since he’s realizing Tsunami and he are on opposite teams and that the only person he needs to oppose here is his own idol.

While Yuuki is aware there is very little chance he’ll ever be picked over Endou, he’s still going to give it his all. Being offered such a chance is something that, merely months ago, he’d have never even dreamt about: he was perfectly content being the keeper for a small soccer team from a modest junior high school, content staying in Fukuoka and spending time as a normal boy. Now, however, he’s risen to the point where he’s legible to compete in worldwide tournaments and… he shouldn’t think over it too much. He’ll be unfocused if all he can think about it has nothing to do with the match at hand. Better ignore his stress and focus!

The match itself is the first he’s competed in since the one against the Dark Emperors, three months ago. Technically speaking, he didn’t even finish that match before he needed to be substituted, so he fully intends on showing everyone what he’s capable of. Fortunately, he’s trained with the team ever since his wrist allowed him to practice again, so he’s prepared for a fight. He can’t disappoint his teammates who have gone all this way with him, that’d be disrespectful!

Everyone else is clearly on the same wavelength, because none of them has any mercy for their opponents. He’d have expected more infighting between teammates because of the nature of the match and what he remembers seeing in the match against Chaos from a while back (one that still sends shivers down his spine when he thinks about it in bed too…), yet they’re mostly working in unison, if he ignores what this guy named Fudou keeps doing.

As for him, he’s really unsure of the impression he’s giving to the team’s future coach. He may be stopping a couple shots here and there with or without _Mugen the Hand_ , he still lets three of them get in, including the very last one of the match. That’s got to leave a sour note, especially since Team B lost 3-2 to the Endou-led Team A. He feels like apologizing purely for potentially jeopardizing the others’ ability to get into the team, then realizes it’s a stupid thing since it’d only affect him if a goal was scored, and the match ends on a last shrill of a whistle.

While the deliberations take place, they’re all stuck outside, waiting for Coach Kudou to decide who he’s going to pick. The air is tense because everyone wants in, even if it costs someone else their place on the team, but keeps it to themselves (at least, that’s for the most part, because he can hear Megane’s twin brag about being picked already). They’ve got the time to think and make predictions, he’d guess, because the groups which form are either friends who wouldn’t care about their friend getting in instead of them or people in different positions who aren’t directly getting into conflict.

Yuuki stays with Tsunami again because it feels like a natural fit. They congratulate each other, after which he confesses he doubts he’ll be picked, to which Tsunami says it’s all in his head. To forget about the anxious atmosphere, they discuss what happened to them since they left each other in Fukuoka for the last time. Most of it are just anecdotes from their daily lives, but they’re fresh, and Tsunami has this aura to him that makes anything he tells ten times more interesting than it’d have been would have it been anyone else telling the exact same story – it’s a great way to pass time.

Some others discuss with their teammates. As Tsunami and he go over their summer, they get to see Oumihara and Yokato get to know each other, so they soon join them. For a moment, he forgets about why he’s here or, more exactly, forgets to feel his heart beating like a bomb about to explode. He’ll take the relief, that’s for sure.

Eventually, Coach Kudou gathers everyone back in a semi-circle in front of him as he gets out a piece of paper on which are, most likely, written the names of those who have been selected for the FFI. Everyone’s breathing, he can tell, are a bit strangled, tense and heavy, as the listing begins. Everyone wants in but six of them aren’t going to be picked. Name by name, he gets to watch people sigh on relief or grin at their expectations coming true. The more Coach Kudou goes, the smaller anyone’s odds are and the quicker and louder his heartbeats grow. It’s a miracle his legs haven’t given in yet and that’s despite knowing said listing can’t be taking more than a handful of minutes.

Whatever made him feel so tense and vivid suddenly disappears when he hears his full name gets called around halfway through the list. He immediately replies with a yes, shoulders risen and voice louder than it should be.

It’s only as he continues to listen to the list going on that he truly realizes what this means: he’s in. Somehow, he was selected along with Endou. It’s a lot to take in, because he’d have never expected it to be the case: truth be told, he’d have believed the team wouldn’t have a second goalkeeper rather than think he’d be filling those shoes. It’s a little overwhelming to think about yet it doesn’t mean he isn’t pleased: it’s even exciting to think he’ll get to see the world with a team and represent his own country on a worldwide stage. Who’d have thought he’d ever reach that level, when only a couple months ago he was just the rookie goalkeeper of a small team?

Tsunami, who also got selected (much to his relief: if there was one person he’d have liked to share a team with, other than Endou (and perhaps more than Endou, come to think of it), it’d be without a doubt Tsunami), taps him on the shoulder. His teammates rise up from their benches and congratulate him on the pick, telling him they’d believed in him until the moment his name had been pronounced, and encouraging him to represent Yokato and Fukuoka as a whole during the tournament. It’s their words which makes it feel real to him, because otherwise, he’d have woken up from a warm dream already.

It’s them against the world, now.


End file.
